Sixteen-year-old Dallas Ramsay knew he had a Canadian Powerlifting Federation national record in the bag Sunday afternoon at Xconditioning gym.
All he had to do was pick up a bar that held nearly twice his own body weight and lift that load from a full squat to a standing position and hold it until the referee told him he was good to go.
Ramsay, a Grade 11 Prince George secondary school student, made it look easy in front of the cheering crowd gathered to watch the Canadian Open amateur meet.
In only his second powerlifting competition Ramsay held the 200-kilogram weight in control long enough to clinch the national record for 16- 18-year-old men in the 126-140-kilogram weight class. In Imperial measures he lifted 440.9 pounds, which exceeded his personal best by 35 pounds.
"I didn't think I would set a record, I thought I'd go out there and give it my best," said Ramsay. "Before this meet my best was 405 pounds. When I figured out I already had the national record beaten, I just didn't take my fourth lift to set it. So why not go a little higher and go a little bigger to get the record."
He also set a personal best of 202 pounds in the bench press, after missing his third attempt at 225 pounds. Ramsay's 300-pound squat Sunday was 45 pounds less than his personal record of 345.
"I wanted to take it easy today just to get some numbers up on the board because I'm battling a torn ACL, MCL and meniscus, so I didn't push too hard today in squats," he said.
Ramsay's knee injury cut short his high school football career with the Prince George Polars a couple seasons ago. He played football for three seasons and he won't be coming back to it.
"I can't play football anymore because of my knee," he said. "I switched to this full-time and I have to say I love it way more. Even though football is a team sport, this is way more of a team atmosphere. It's so supportive and nobody's facing anybody. The only person you have to beat is yourself and beat your previous personal records.
"For the longest time, the only sport a big guy like me could play was football and then they started the powerlifting club and that's what I want to do for the rest of my life."
Ramsay is in his third year of powerlifting and was one of the first to sign up when PGSS coach Colton Polsom formed the city's only high school lifting club.
Forty-five amateurs competed Sunday, after 20 pros battled for cash prizes on Saturday.
"I like everything about it - the powerlifting community is amazing, it doesn't matter if you miss your lift or complete it, they still come up and support you," said Ramsay. "Before you go out there there's five or six or seven lifters who say, 'Good try' or 'Good luck, amazing lift,' and that really builds your confidence.
"It's 80 per cent mental."
