Lisa Harrison and Lesley-Ann Johnstone both brought home silverware from the North West and Lancs divisional powerlifting competition, taking second and third place respectively.
And both have secured their place at major championships as a result of their excellent performance.
Support worker Lisa, below, has been involved in powerlifting for about two years, but the competition last weekend is the first time she has secured a spot on the podium. She said: “I was really excited for the competition, I’d been training for about eight weeks beforehand so I had been working up to it. When I’ve competed before I was always just trying to do better than the last time, so I didn’t really know what to do when they said I had got second place.”
“My next competition will be the British Women’s Classic Championships in February so I’ll be starting training for that soon.”
Both women train with coach Jimmy Nsouli at Nsouli Barbel powerlifting club in Carlisle, although they also train at Lesley-Ann’s own gym, LActive, in Annan.
And a third place finish for Lesley-Ann, pictured above, was particularly special, as she was her first time taking part in a powerlifting competition. She said: “I’ve been lifting for about three or four years, but I properly got into powerlifting about six months ago. I’ve tried things like marathons, cycling and swimming challenges in the past and never did as well as I wanted to, so getting the guts to do it initially took a while.
“Going into the competition I was definitely nervous, and I messed up my first lift because of the nerves, but the buzz was brilliant and the team kept me calm and gave me lots of advice. I was really chuffed to come away with a medal.”
Lesley-Ann’s performance secures her place at the British Masters championships in Belfast in October, where she hopes to improve on her debut result. She said: “I have eight weeks to really go for it. The aim is to control the nerves and go for the performance I really want at this next competition.”
Advising those interested in getting into the sport, Lesley-Ann said: “Powerlifting takes a lot of commitment, but lifting in general is easy to get into and well worth it.”
