A competitor completes his lift at the Senior Weightlifting Provincials in Prince Albert. (Logan Lehmann/paNOW Staff)

By paNOW Staff

POWERLIFTING

Organizers praise P.A.’s hospitality during Senior Weightlifting Provincials

Mar 25, 2024 | 10:00 AM

Some of the best powerlifters in Saskatchewan were in Prince Albert over the weekend for a major competition at the Alfred Jenkins Fieldhouse.

The Provincial Senior Weightlifting Championships took over the city with up to 60 athletes participating in the big event.

Among some of the clubs involved were P.A. Olympic, SaskPro, H/M Fitness, Ignite Athletics, and Synergy Strength.

Another club, the 306 Weight Club dominated in the overall team rankings, finishing first in the men’s, women’s, and combined categories.

Some local athletes did finish at the top of their events including Jude Letkeman, Brett Sather, and Celena Jacobson.

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Past president of Saskatchewan’s Weightlifting Association Ken Trofimuk was also the meet director for the weekend events. Before talking about the athletes’ accomplishments, he took time to recognize the hospitality of Prince Albert including staff at the Alfred Jenkins Field House.

“We got nothing but positive comments from everybody who came in, they were some of the coaches and athletes were going ‘this is the best venue we’ve ever had in Saskatchewan to host any kind of a competition,’” he said.

Trofimuk added a couple of other reasons Prince Albert was so appealing to them was the amount of space they could use, compared to smaller gyms and schools they’ve rented in other cities. The cost of renting the Field House was also another positive.

“If we rented a facility in Regina or Saskatoon it would be two or three times that. We rented a school for a competition in Saskatoon, I think it was $1,100 a day.”

Moving to the competition itself, Trofimuk praised the accomplishments of the athletes young and old. One junior athlete who took part made his way up to elite international status with his results.

“That means he’s now on the radar of Canada weightlifting to potentially put his name in for the Youth World Championships in Peru,” he said.

Additionally, several athletes qualified for senior nationals after the weekend and several masters weight lifters (30+) set provincial or Canadian age group records.

Now that the provincials are done, Trofimuk said they only have a couple of competitions breaking for the summer. That includes the junior provincials on April 20 at Ignite Athletics in Saskatoon.

Senior Weightlifting Nationals happen May 16-17 in Nova Scotia, while Junior Nationals occur June 14-16 in Toronto. The Masters Nationals are happening in Quebec with dates still to be determined.

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panews@pattisonmedia.com