Britain's strongest gran is bidding for gold just months after taking up powerlifting “by accident”.
Dr Martine Barons, 63, will lift for Great Britain at the European Championships in Finland this summer.
The 5ft 6ins mum-of-two, who has four grandchildren, started lifting weights for fun but soon realised she was naturally talented.
Martine now trains three times a week while working full-time as an academic researcher at Warwick University.
Dr Martine Barons, 63, will lift for Great Britain at the European Championships in Finland this summer.
The 5ft 6ins mum-of-two, who has four grandchildren, started lifting weights for fun but soon realised she was naturally talented.
Martine now trains three times a week while working full-time as an academic researcher at Warwick University.
Category
😹
FunTranscript
00:00 I'm Dr Martine Behrens and I work at the University of Warwick and I'm a statistician.
00:06 I recently took up powerlifting and I'm as surprised as anyone to be standing here with this medal on.
00:12 What happened was I have a good friend at work who is a PT and we went to the gym for the first time together just before Christmas and she taught me how to deadlift.
00:22 She told me that actually picking up 60kg on your first attempt is really quite good but I didn't really believe her.
00:29 Two weeks later when we were in the gym together I managed 100kg on the deadlift and she said really you are particularly strong and you should compete.
00:37 And so I did. Long story short we both competed in the RIL qualifiers for the ABPU.
00:42 We both came away with medals for our division and now I have been invited to the single lift championships,
00:49 to represent the Republic of Great Britain at the European Championships in Finland
00:53 and also to the British Championships for where athletes are picked to go to the world.
00:58 So I'm very surprised but it's a great journey.
01:01 [Bell rings]
01:03 [Bell rings]
01:04 [Bell rings]
01:05 [BLANK_AUDIO]