Fredericton’s Fran Harris shouldn’t be new to nationwide competitions.
In reality, she’s competed nationally in 5 totally different sports activities. But a brand new enterprise for the 61-year-old was competing on an international stage — a childhood dream that Harris not too long ago achieved.
“Hard to imagine that I needed to be 61 earlier than I [could] fulfil [that dream,]” mentioned Harris. “I assume the worth of by no means giving up turns into helpful down the street.”
Harris began powerlifting in her early 50s. She competed on a nationwide stage and certified to signify Canada at the World Masters Powerlifting Championships in St. John’s, N.L.
Powerlifting includes three classes — a squat, a bench press and a deadlift. Competitors carry out three lifts in every class and the very best scores in every class are tallied up.
The squat assessments the energy of the decrease physique and quads, the bench press includes the higher physique, and the deadlift is the hamstring and again, mentioned Harris.
As a longtime athlete, she mentioned she all the time hung across the weight room, nevertheless it wasn’t till 2013, when she was launched to CrossFit, that she discovered about powerlifting.
Harris mentioned a number of issues have stored her concerned in the game over time.
She has a foul proper knee and has had greater than 10 surgical procedures on it. She mentioned this limits what she will be able to do athletically. She cannot bike as a lot and though she would like to strive pickleball, she mentioned her knee could not deal with it.
But weightlifting has all the time been one thing she might do.
“If my knee hurts at some point, then I do not do squats, I can do different stuff. So I believe it simply helps with my general health and clearly my well being,” mentioned Harris.
Competing on the international stage
Harris mentioned going to the international competitors in Newfoundland was “an unimaginable expertise.”
“Even although it was simply St. John’s, if you walked into the venue, and also you heard the totally different languages and all that, it actually felt like a world championship,” she mentioned.
Harris ended up incomes a bronze medal with a complete of 312.5 factors. She mentioned she was happy together with her deadlift and more than happy together with her squat of 105 kilograms, though she did admit to being disillusioned together with her bench press.
She mentioned she thought she would take a break, however not reaching a nationwide report in bench makes her need to go proper again and check out once more.
“I’ve bought extra room to develop if I need to. And even when I do not need to compete once more, [there’s] the well being advantages that I do achieve from lifting,” mentioned Harris. “I do not assume I’ll cease lifting.”