“I thought if I got one medal I would be over the moon,” she said.

Instead, she returned home with five medals, a fourth place and an unlucky disqualification in her seven events in the 50-54 age group.

It was a super effort by the Highlands super-mum.

“I was extremely happy to do so well,” she said.

“It was wonderful.”

And her success came on the back of a pretty relaxed training scheme even by her own admission.

Shaw’s training involved three months of sprints work leading into the event.

“I did a bit of training so I wouldn’t be left too far behind,” Shaw said.

“My husband [Paul] was speaking to another lady’s husband and he said his wife had trained for two years for the event.

“He didn’t have the heart to tell him I’d only trained for three months.”

But instead of being left behind, she soared onto the dais in the pole vault (gold), 100metres and triple jump (silver) and hurdles and long jump (bronze).

She also ran fourth in the high jump and was a serious medal contender when she was judged to have broken early in the 200m.

“Two false starts, so they say,” Shaw said.

“I had a top three time going into the final.

“But at least it gave someone else a chance to get the medal.”

Shaw said she was into athletics some 30 years ago when she was in high school, but had a 30-year break from the sport before taking it up again recently.

She picked up seven medals at the NSW Masters last year and was keen to get among other aged athletes at the world event.

While many medallists left the Sydney games keen to defend their title at the next World Masters in Turin, Italy, in 2013, Shaw was a bit different.

“I probably won’t go,” the stay-at-home mum said.

“I am not one for traveling and don’t think I would go overseas.”

Shaw’s children, Rachel, 15 and Hayden, 13, are also keen athletes and the family travel to Wollongong on Wednesday nights to train with Athletics Wollongong.