Georgia Cameron (left) and Diego Such (right) both won gold medals at BC provincials in December. Medal hopes run high for each of them in 2021. (Michele Grenier/Bold Photography)

By Dan Marshall

Uplifting

Nanaimo weightlifters eye national team berths

Jan 29, 2021 | 4:11 PM

NANAIMO — Even as most team sports remain shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Hercules weightlifting club athletes continue to raise the bar.

Two major events are on the immediate horizon for local lifters, including the Canadian Junior National Championships in Edmonton in March and the BC Senior Provincials in late February.

Raf Korkowski, Hercules instructor, said all of the usual events are on the 2021 calendar but it’s not known yet what will be a virtual or in-person competition.

The club has medal contenders the junior, senior and masters categories but several of the juniors could be in line for big results.

“Most of the juniors are at the top of the age group,” Korkowski said. “Being more mature they were very successful at junior provincials in December. We got four gold medals and a silver medal as a team.”

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Four junior level athletes from the Nanaimo based club will be part of the 20 member Team BC for junior nationals.

One of those team members is Georgia Cameron from Victoria who will often drive to Nanaimo on weekends to train.

She took gold in her weight class at provincials and has lofty goals for the upcoming year.

“I’m going to compete at senior provincials and then peak my training for the junior nationals in March. I’m looking to qualify for the junior world championships which is supposed to be in Saudi Arabia.”

Terilyn Ewen-Holdom, Ben Martin and Noah Janssen are the other Team BC members from Hercules Weightlifting going to the nationals.

The local club believes up to three Hercules lifters could grab spots on the national team this spring.

Another gold medalist from junior provincials, Diego Such is making the transition from junior to senior in 2021.

He officially joined the Hercules club in the fall and is now working to get back to his personal best levels coming off an injury.

Such started weightlifting to help with his training for lacrosse but fell in love with the sport and decided to leave lacrosse behind.

“If I’d stayed playing lacrosse I would have lost an entire season. But as a lifter I’m very fortunate, things haven’t really changed that much for training. I’ve always been able to find a place I can go to and most gyms are very accommodating.”

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dan@nanaimonewsnow.com

On twitter: @danmarshall77