The past few months have been quite a ride for powerlifter Gage Bush.
From regionals, to provincials, to nationals, he鈥檚 pushed his body鈥檚 boundaries into lifting some incredible weight. His very first time competing was last October.
The most recent competition he attended was the Canadian Powerlifting Union Classic National Championships in Saguenay, Quebec in March. It was his first time ever competing at nationals.
鈥淥nce I got there, everything went pretty smoothly,鈥� Bush said. 鈥淭he only real big issue was the anxiety leading up to the actual competition itself but once you do your first lift, it goes away completely.鈥�
Bush said the competitors at nationals were good in comparison to the provincial competition, but for the most part they didn鈥檛 seem untouchable.
鈥淓xcept for the guy who came in first,鈥� added Bush. 鈥淎 few weeks ago he set an unofficial world record in his weight class in deadlift. He鈥檚 on a whole other level.鈥�
Bush currently holds the provincial record in his deadlifting category. At nationals, his combined total lifts were 700lb deadlift, 600lb squat and 330lb bench-press. 聽
He said his bench press was his downfall.
鈥淚f it wasn鈥檛 for my bench press, I could have at least tied for third place. That is where I really need to build up,鈥� he said.
But his consistent training has allowed Bush to see progress in that category. He鈥檚 hoping that at his next competition in September, he鈥檒l finally push his bench press to the next level.
As one can assume, the cost of traveling to these various competitions around the country aren鈥檛 cheap. Many people in the Yorkton community came together to sponsor Bush, or to make donations to help him out. He wanted to give a special thank you to those people.
鈥淚 had one sponsor 鈥� Dig n鈥� Dre鈥檚, the supplement store, which is owned by the owners of PAC,鈥� Bush said.
More people on that list of thanks were Gary Hutton, a lifetime friend of Bush, whose family gave a donation, Doug Kerr of ServiceMaster, Jason Farrell of Farrell Agencies and Justine Lutz of LR Future Insurance & Investments.
鈥淎nd all the other people who donated and contributed in any way they could to make it possible for me to make my trip. I thank them very much for their help and assistance,鈥� he added.
Bush also wanted to make a correction for a statistic he offered in his last interview with Yorkton This Week. A misunderstanding when reading previous records caused him to mistakenly say he held the total overall lifting record. He鈥檚 still a little ways off from reaching that mark.
Nonetheless, the Yorkton athlete holds the provincial dead lift record. It will be an exciting ride to see what records he shatters next as he continues to train and represent the province.
