Yves Bélanger, Servir 

On the afternoon of 22 March, six women and ten men—civilians and military members—were at Saint-Jean Garrison, competing at the very first weightlifting competition organized by the Personnel Support Programs (PSP).

At the competition, the 16 participants gave their all in an effort to outdo themselves. According to Samuel. V. Côté, PSP Fitness Instructor, since the men and women who were competing were in different weight categories, the Sinclair method was used to determine the winners. “It’s used to come up with a score according to the competitor’s body weight and the weight they’re able to lift.”

Major Sacha Amédé, Officer Commanding of Canadian Forces Language School Det Saint-Jean, placed first among the men with a score of 280.746, whereas on the women’s side, first place went to Sergeant Caroline Chartrand, Canadian Forces Leadership and Recruit School, with a score of 185.099.

Back next year

Pierre-Luc Desormeaux, PSP Fitness and Sports Manager, was pleased with how many civilian and military members of the Defence Team took part. “Sixteen competitors for the first time is very good.”

According to Mr. Desormeaux, the competition was a great way to cap off the weightlifting course given in recent months. “It was impressive to see people who had never even touched weights before they started the training. They did very well.”

Mr. Desormeaux was visibly proud to be able to add the event to the list of competitions already organized by the PSP. “We now have a group of instructors with excellent weightlifting expertise in an increasingly popular sport, enabling us to provide our members with quality training.”

He concluded by saying the weightlifting competition would become an annual event. “With this many competitors for a first experience, we clearly need to do it again next year.”