A powerhouse mother-of-two from Melton has been crowned Britain’s strongest woman - deadlifting as much as a pygmy hippopotamus on her way to the title.

Ipswich Star: Mother-of-two Andrea Thompson, 33, from Melton, has been crowned Britain's Strongest Woman. Andrea holding up her husband and Coach. Left to right, Steve Thompson, Andrea Thompson and Ben Gray.Mother-of-two Andrea Thompson, 33, from Melton, has been crowned Britain's Strongest Woman. Andrea holding up her husband and Coach. Left to right, Steve Thompson, Andrea Thompson and Ben Gray.

Andrea Thompson, 33, of Hall Farm Road, topped the leader board at Sunday’s competition in Northampton winning four out the five gruelling events, and now has her sights set on the European and world titles.

Andrea, who only started strength training around 18 months ago, said she was overjoyed at the win.

“I was a little bit giddy when I found out,” she said.

“My husband came with me and we opened up a bottle of fizz but I just couldn’t drink it.

“It was quite overwhelming.”

First off on Sunday was the deadlift, where competitors haul a weighted bar from the floor to a standing position.

Andrea won the event, lifting a whopping 215kg - the equivalent of almost 34 stone.

Next she smashed the giant dumbbell contest before winning the yoke carry and farmers walk agility event.

Andrea suffered a mishap in the truck pull, where competitors had to drag a Transit van 15 metres, coming second-to-last in the event.

But she finished strong in the Atlas stones - lifting three of the four heavy spheres in the quickest time to beat her rivals to the prize.

Last year Andrea won the UK’s strongest woman competition in Newcastle, Northampton’s Strongest Woman and won the Bodypower Competition in Birmingham in May to qualify for Sunday’s event.

But coming home with her most recent title didn’t seem to impress her two daughters Violet, seven, and Olivia, five.

“I think they are getting a bit bored with all the trophies,” she said.

“They were really pleased, but Mum coming back with a trophy has become the norm.

“They do tell their friends ‘my mum is really strong’ though.”

Andrea, who trains with Ben Gray at Suffolk Strength Academy on Ransomes Europark in Ipswich, said she was confident going into Sunday’s contest.

“I thought I had a good chance but you don’t know who is going to turn up on the day,” she said.

Andrea now has her sights set on the World’s Strongest Woman contest on September 17 and Europe’s Strongest Woman event in December.