MEET the Cumbrian mother who is chalking up and preparing to compete in the powerlifting World Championships in Canada.
Sharon Holmes from Carlisle is fundraising to raise £2,000 to help cover travel and competing costs.
For the 50-year-old having competed 13 times and twice for Great Britain, competing in the Master's II (age 50-59) world category, she hopes she'll be able to beat the current world squat record of 140kg.
"In my late thirties, I was going to the gym in a vain attempt to get fit, I just wanted to get fitter and healthier. There's diabetes in my family that was in the back of my mind, I didn't want to put myself at risk, so I started to go more seriously.
"My trainer was quite big on women getting into strength training, so we started off in a powerlifting group with just men but the lads that went, they made you feel like one of them, and slowly we got other girls involved," she said.
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In 2016, Carlisle trainer Jimmy Nsoul put the group forward for a regional competition - this being the first time Sharon competed, and would go on to win and set regional records.
That was the moment Sharon was "bitten" by the weightlifting bug.
Subsequently, Sharon would go on to compete for the British team, taking her in 2019 to Hungary for the European championships - in which she finished sixth in her category.
In June 2022, Sharon won the British Master's II category, bagging her a spot in the upcoming Canada championship.
Sharon, who has converted her conservatory into a gym whilst also training at Carlisle's Strength Shack, has been aided by the help of renowned strength trainer Tom Martin.
"You never know who's watching or thinking I'd love to do that but feeling that they are too old, too fat, too thin but it's not like that at all.
"It was a hobby to start with, I never thought for one minute I would get good enough to be able to do it. You think you're just a mum, a woman from Carlisle, you imagine if only you could do that, and for me, to be doing it now, this is my winning the lottery. And to do it for Britain, it's all the better," she said.
To donate, visit Sharon's GoFundMe page here.
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