On Sunday, members of the Canadore Panthers powerlifting team, and students from the Strength and Sport Conditioning program, staged the 2014 Special Olympics Ontario-Northern Region Powerlifting contest.
The competition, held at the Commerce Court gymnasium, drew 21 lifters from Timmins, Sudbury, and North Bay.
The local contingent included novice lifters Ryan Bullard, Mason Constant, Dylon Knight, and Darren Simms. Veteran powerlifters, Kevin Grigg and Jackelyn Osborne also represented North Bay.
Osborne was named the top female lifter of the day according to the Wilks formulas. Jackelyn had best marks of 67.5 kilos in the squat, 42.5 kilos in the bench press, and 97.5 kilos in the deadlift. The “Best Effort” trophy went to newcomer Ryan Bullard. Bullard made 5 or his 6 attempts and finished with a total of 110 kilos.
The North Bay lifters were coached by Raffi Yousefi, Jordan Franks, Carter Shaefer, Brett Sontag, Detlev Himmelman, and Alyssa Lehman.
The top male lifter in the contest was Andrew Goulet of Timmins.
One of four Timmins lifters headed to the July Canadian Special Olympics Summer Games in Vancouver, Goulet posted an impressive total of 477.5 kilos. He weighed in at 79.5 kilos and registered top lifts of 170 kilos in the squat, 122.5 kilos in the bench press, and 185 kilos in the deadlift.
Due to the enthusiasm of the athletes, the coaches and organizers from Canadore are committed to hosting a similar powerlifting event next year. The contest will be named the Chris Thacker Memorial in honour of one of North Bay’s most dedicated and popular powerlifting competitors.
At the time of his death in 2005, Chris Thacker was the Canadian Special Olympics record holder in his weight division and was working toward a berth on the 2006 Canadian team for the International Games in China.
Submitted to BayToday.ca
