Shoal Lake member lifts 90 kg for the gold

Shoal Lake’s Dennis Hunter recently won gold at the Canadian Masters Weightlifting Championships in Scarborough.
“I was just happy to be there — it’s been a good experience with the program here,” said the second-year strength and sport conditioning student at Canadore College and member of the Canadore Panthers weightlifting club. “I was actually pretty nervous.”
Hunter won gold in the 105 kg class, lifting 70 kg in the snatch event and 90 kg in the clean and jerk.
“You get to do three lifts in the snatch and three lifts in the clean and jerk for a total of six lifts for the competition,” Hunter said. “You set your specific weight that you are aiming to lift successfully and if you get that in your first lift, you can increase your lift. If you don’t get your first lift, you’ve got to repeat that over again to go up, but you are only allowed a maximum of three tries per weight.”
Hunter said his coach at Canadore invited him to go to the championships, which is an open competition for people 35 years old and over.
“I figured I better take the opportunity,” Hunter said, noting his coach won at the championships last year. “He is also a Pan American Games as well. When somebody like that extends a hand to you, I thought I’d better take the chance and go with him.”
Hunter would like to see more Anishinabe people participating in Olympic-style weightlifting and powerlifting.
“You get stronger and it’s better for your joints,” Hunter said. “It’s better for your posture and in the long run it will keep you healthy longer.”
But for now, Hunter’s goal is to help Anishinabe people fight diabetes through exercise.
“Most of the education on it is from the diet side,” Hunter said. “I don’t see too much information on physical activity.”
In addition, Hunter stressed that people need to eat healthy foods while training.
“You can’t be eating junk food, you can’t be running to the takeout,” Hunter said. “If you eat right, your body will respond better.”