A Squamish powerlifter had quite the outing at a recent international competition.
Squamish’s Marc Nering walked away second in his weight class in the Masters 3 division—a division for athletes aged between 60 and 70 years old—at the International Powerlifting Federation’s World Masters Men’s Classic Championships in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia in mid-October. Nering also earned third overall of all the powerlifters in the Masters 3 division, which calculates the best powerlifters regardless of weight class.
“I’m pretty proud of what I’ve done,” said Nering in an interview with The Squamish Chief a couple weeks after the competition. “I dedicate a lot of time to it.”
Powerlifting sees competitors get several attempts at maxing out on three styles of lifting: squat, bench press and deadlift. Nering said to get to the international level he had to compete locally, provincially and nationally before earning a spot to head overseas.
After earning that spot, he was grateful to spend time with other Canadian athletes and get more involved with the powerlifting community.
“We actually made some really good friends from different parts of Canada,” he said.
While he’s at the top of his game now, Nering wasn’t always a powerlifter. Nering said he picked up the sport about a decade ago thanks to his son Lukas.
“My youngest boy was just getting into high school and wanting to play football and wanting to lift weights. And so, we got a weight set,” Nering said. “Next thing you know, we're both lifting.”
He explained it quickly became a part of his life and he saw it as a way to stay active as he got older even when he wasn’t competing. Of course, when he did compete he found out he was good at it too.
“I guess I had some success,” he said with a laugh.
With the international competition under his belt, Nering said he’s aiming to partake in next year’s competition, which will be in South Africa around October. First, he said he would have to go through national competitions again to earn a spot.
Though he earned the silver medal in his weight class at the recent competition, Nering said he was “almost disappointed” having fallen just short of the gold. It is safe to say he will be gunning for the top spot again next year.
“I’m a competitive person by nature,” he summarized.
Learn more about Nering’s accomplishments at powerlifting.sport.
