FIFTY-EIGHT bottles of whisky played a part in a shot-putter becoming world champion.

Warrington’s Sale Harriers thrower, John Nicholls, took the over 50s men’s title at the World Masters Indoors Championships in Daegu, South Korea, last week and the 51-year-old has now revealed how a 40th-birthday gift part a played in making his long-held dream come true.

Competing internationally, at a level where sponsorship is hard to come by, can be an expensive business but the Stockton Heath man’s funding for his world-championship bid in South Korea was certainly novel.

“When I was 40, my brother-in-law bought me a tenth share of a barrel of whisky – a good Bruichladdich – and that came to fruition when I turned 50,” said Nicholls, a Carlsberg employee.

“It ended up an 11-year-old malt and we ended up with 29 bottles each.

WATCH: Nicholls' reaction to becoming world champion

“We sold them. So, a 10th share of a barrel of whisky almost 12 years ago paid for the trip.”

Nicholls’ brother-in-law, sister and wife Tracey were in the crowd as the British record holder from Stockton Heath achieved what he described as the holy grail.

He continues the story, telling about the sale of the whisky.

“The guy we sold them to, me and my brother-in-law met up with him - on a pub car park, on a Saturday morning, with a boot full of whisky.

“When I pulled up on the car park, me and my brother-in-law looked at each other and said “Tell me we’re not on a pub car park on a Saturday morning with a boot full of whisky, meeting a bloke who is going to give us some money.” Everything about this is wrong.

“We met this guy, and I was like a meerkat looking around at cars to see if some bloke’s going to get out with a baseball bat.”

The guy they met ran an online business and planned to sell-on the 58 bottles.

Nicholls added: “He was a lovely bloke, and we told him the story about why we were selling the whisky, about wanting to go to Daegu for this athletics competition.

“And he said ‘Oh, you’ve just put a tenner on each bottle because there’s a story behind it now.’ “So this gold medal I’ve won, in effect, started almost 12 years ago when I got a tenth share of a barrel of whisky.”