She’s not afraid to do the heavy lifting
St. John’s woman, at 70, has found a passion for powerlifting, of all things
A freak accident three years ago can be credited with helping a St. John’s woman find a passion for the most unlikely of sports — powerlifting.
Though there’s probably no way of checking, Ruby Koritarov of St. John’s, at 70, may be the oldest female powerlifter in the country.
It’s a safe bet to say she’s the oldest in Newfoundland and Labrador.
“This is something that I never thought that I would do, or certainly could do,” she said. “But it’s a passion of mine right now. I don’t see myself stopping.”
In September, 2014, Koritarov, nine months after retiring from a 47-year career with Sobeys, was carrying laundry downstairs when she stumbled and broke both the tibia and fibula, two bones in the lower part of the leg, which required surgery.
Full recovery took nearly two years, and during that time, she —not surprisingly — put on some weight.
So she joined an exercise program at Heavyweights Training Centre in St. John’s, and lost 20-plus pounds. She stayed at Heavyweights, where she was introduced to weightlifting.
“I really enjoy it,” she said. “I’d never really played any sports growing up. I ran the Tely 10 once, a long time ago, and I’d go to a gym here and there. But that was it.
“For whatever reason, I really took to the weightlifting. I was looking at these young ones going around, thinking I’m the oldest here. But it was something I really wanted to do.”
She started light, but these day is going hard at it, four or five days per week for an hour at a time.
At the recent Eastern Canadian championship in P.E.I., she bench-pressed 105 pounds, squatted 160 and deadlifted 248 pounds.
She’s set to compete at an event in Gander next month, and will lift at the nationals in Ottawa in March.
Both Koritarov and her coach, Rob King, have the 2020 world championship circled on their calendar. St. John’s is set to play host to that event.
“My aim is to be No. 1 in the world for my age group,” she said.