Uplifting experience

Time flies when you’re having fun, or had fun, in the case of Souris powerlifters Rebecca Chapman and Zack McCormack.

Chapman and McCormack recently returned from the IPF World Powerlifting Championships in Poland.

Chapman won an overall silver medal in her sub-junior 72-kg weight class, earned a gold medal in the squat and  set four Canadian records and six Commonwealth marks.

These days, she’s learning her way around the lecture theatre as a first-year student at UPEI and scurrying around the rugby pitch playing for the Panthers.

“Well, I’m in university now so I’m pretty busy,” said Chapman in a recent interview. “(The) worlds seems like years ago.”

Chapman, a first-year science student at UPEI, was one of the trio of Souris powerlifters who excelled in Poland.

McCormack took bronze overall, silver in squat and silver in deadlift in the 93-kg men’s division while setting three Canadian records and one Commonwealth record.

“This experience taught me a lot more about what people are capable of. Some of the lifters there did things I didn’t think were possible, and if you had told me when I first started out that I would be there I wouldn’t have believed you,” said McCormack, who attends Dalhousie University in Halifax. “I’ll always save the medals as a keepsake, and while I haven’t found a place for them yet I’m sure they’ll always be a great reminder of the experience.” 

Courtney Dill broke Canadian and Commonwealth records in deadlift.

A fourth Island lifter, Justin Smith from Mount Pleasant, won an overall silver in the 59-kg men’s division, added a gold medal in the deadlift with a world-record lift of 235.5 kg  and earned a bronze medal in the squat. 

Chapman said it was a good learning experience.

“I learned how hard you have to work to get something you want in a way I’ve never realized before,” she said. “The one thing is that you have to work so hard and put a lot of time into something worthwhile. It’s hard, but it pays off in the end whether you win or not.”

And for her powerlifting future? It’s up on hold for a time. “Well, I’m taking a break right now, but come winter I’ll be back at it and then who knows?” Chapman said.

McCormack, 18, has a similar outlook.

“As far as competitions go I’m still not sure where I’m headed. Having just moved into university, I’m going to have to learn to juggle the course load with my training, but I would love to keep lifting, and am going to do my best to keep at it,” he said.