FARAH Fonseca, the 22-year-old personal trainer from Basingstoke, stunned her competitors to become England’s Strongest Woman.

Following her debut in the qualifying rounds for the national championships, Farah brushed off the nation’s 13 strongest women to be crowned the country’s finest in her weight category.

In April, Farah, who runs her own Bootcamp gym sessions in the town, finished fourth in the qualifiers to earn her place among England’s elite.

And after her victory in the finals of England’s Strongest Woman, she will now go on to represent England at next year’s World’s Strongest Woman in the USA.

“It was absolutely mad,” a thrilled Farah told The Gazette

“I was with all my family and none of us were expecting this – it still feels strange saying in my weight category I am England’s Strongest Woman. I really didn’t expect this because it can be such a close competition and all the girls that took part were lifting really well and breaking their own personal bests.

“But when the announcer was counting down and said I had won I just thought ‘wow’ – it was brilliant.”

Much like World’s Strongest Man, the women’s edition involves just as much core strength.

To clinch her title, Farah endured a series of challenges such as trying to complete the most amount of reps with an atlas stone attached to her in 60 seconds and the maximum number of squats made whilst lifting nearly 120kg.

Taking her experiences from the last round of lifting Farah felt ready to compete.

“I felt so much calmer going into this event because I think in the previous round I let the nerves get the better of me,” Farah continued.

“The trophy is just as big and heavy as it looks – I have no idea where to put it yet.”