IGNORE WHAT they say, because you can teach an old dog new tricks.

That's the message from a Forres man, who was crowned one of the world's best cyclists at the age of 70.

Peter Robertson of Califer Road won a silver medal at the World Masters Track Championships at the Manchester Velodrome.

Even more impressively, he only took up competitive cycling last year, though he had some experience of it in his youth, and this was only the second time he had ridden on an indoor track.

"To say I was chuffed is an understatement," said Mr Robertson, who has since celebrated his 71st birthday. "When they hang the medal around your neck it's totally worth it."

He competed against 24 riders from around the globe in the men's pursuit in the 70-74-years-old age grouping.

This saw him cycle around the circuit eight times, clocking up a distance of 2000 metres (1.24 miles) travelling at an average speed of 42.6 km/h (26.5 mph). He finished less than nine seconds behind the winner, Guido Lupo of Italy.

The grandfather of three, who retired nearly three years ago from his job as a joiner and site manager, started cycling as a way to trim his waistline.

Weighing in at 16 stone, he felt he needed to lose some weight and saw the sport as the ideal way to do this. "I thought I'd be really just playing about on the bike," he joked.

Forres Cycling Club (FCC) members recognised Mr Robertson's ability and suggested he start training for competitions.

This saw him taking his bike around an improvised track near the Cathay nursing home, whereas most of his fellow competitors got to train in a velodrome of their own.

"We're up against it up in the sticks," he said.

The lack of indoor facilities didn't do him any harm, as he won two bronze medals at this year's British Masters National Track Cycling Championships in Newport, Wales, riding in a velodrome for the first time.

The event in Manchester was his second indoor competition and the tracks provide their own challenges.

"It was quite different to riding on the road," he said. "You've got to be doing a certain speed all the time or you'll slide down."

The Manchester venue is where the Great Britain Cycling Team train and Mr Robertson had the chance to meet several of its well-known members, including Olympic gold medalists Sir Chris Hoy and Victoria Pendleton, an experience he described as "inspiring".

Originally from Bridge of Allan in Stirlingshire, Mr Robertson was a promising footballer in his teenage years, with ambitions to play for Scotland, but a bicycle ride when he was 16-years-old made him decide to change sports.

He achieved some impressive results, including holding the Scottish 25-mile record when he was 21-years-old, but had become more involved in organising events than competing in them when he moved to Forres in 1972, at the age of 32.

But he is now firmly back in the saddle and trains five days a week, less than in the 1960s but achieving much better results. A measure of his success is the fact that he is now able to match, and occasionally beat, the results he achieved 50 years ago.

He scoffs at any suggestion that people his age are too set in their ways to change.

"It's a fallacy, you're never too old to learn," he said. "There's no such thing as you can't teach an old dog new tricks."