Dartmouth resident organizes powerlifting competition

Lifters pumped iron in style at the Gleason Family YMCA’s fourth annual Powerlifting Fundraiser on Sunday, Oct. 25.

A record 36 lifters joined the competition, bench pressing and deadlifting while dressed up in Halloween costumes such as a panda, a minion and Superman.

The event welcomed lifters of all ages, shapes and backgrounds. They ranged as young as 7 years old and as old as 76. Liz Pothel-Pereira of Dartmouth, who organizes the fundraiser, said the goal was to make it as inclusive of an environment as possible.

She said that when she sees everyone cheer for each other, “[i]t always gives me tears and fills my cup.”

Pothel-Pereira dressed as a grandma, swapping her walker for a barbell to deadlift 360 pounds. She said she wears the costume every year, but this year she traded it in for a gorilla costume part way through. She lifted 20 pounds more as a gorilla. She also helped spot people as they lifted. 

Lifters from other nearby towns joined in. From Marion, Leo Grondin, 61, deadlift 248 pounds while Tom Grondin, 19, deadlift 231 pounds and bench pressed 138 pounds; brothers Zach, 19, and Dylan Gates, 15, bench pressed 375 and 259 pounds, respectively; and Mary Magg, who works at the Gleason Y’s front desk and runs Mary’s Trivia, benched 94 pounds. Georgia Harley, 14, of Rochester, deadlift 187 pounds and benched 72 pounds. From Mattapoisett, 61-year-old Sue Wilburn deadlifted 143 pounds. Old Rochester Regional High School student Charles Bonney, 16, deadlifted 409 pounds.

Robert Dortona, 29, came down from New Hampshire to lift the most weight, deadlifting 716 pounds in a Minion costume.

But the most intense competition was found on the side of the gym at the best cookie contest. Those in attendance voted for the best cookie out of the 23 submissions. Theresa O’Mahony repeated as the winner with her raspberry cookie.

Pothel-Pereira said the cookie contest is “a really good hit.”