Seventeen-year-old Darcy Ducharme recently travelled to Salo, Finland and competed in the World Power Lifting championships.
It was his first time representing Canada on a world stage and he was able to beat out six others in his division and was second best out of eight competitors.
Ducharme competed in the sub junior (under 18 years) 59kg (130 pounds) class and for someone who just got into power lifting recently, taking home a silver medal at an international event is pretty impressive.
He currently resides in Elliot Lake but was born in North Bay and he was at a loss of words when he was asked about the whole experience.
“It's crazy, I never expected to even get into powerlifting really, but it's unreal,” said Ducharme via an phone interview.
“I started working out with a personal trainer to get bigger and stronger for wrestling. My personal trainer said I should look into it, because of how good my dead lift was at the time”
In powerlifting, there are three different activities that the athletes have to complete. Instead of just lifting weights for one single activity, they have to be able to dead lift, squat and bench press as well. There's lots of work that goes into it prior to competing in the event, and Ducharme said he was in school, working and training six times a week.
Ducharme revealed that his first meet for power lifting was actually in North Bay. After the meet in that, he was able to compete at the provincials, which was held in Hamilton. Then, he competed at the nationals in New Foundland and the rest was history.
Although he was beyond excited when he found he had the chance to go to Finland to compete, he recognized money might be an issue. But, instead of making excuses, he found himself a second job and was thankful his parents were able to help him out as well.
Lyle Ducharme, is a business owner in Elliot Lake and he noted how proud he was of his son's accomplishments.
“I'm very, very happy and delighted with the results,” said Lyle Ducharme.
“He's been working very hard and I couldn't be happier for him.”
