Cheltenham weightlifter Chloe Shelbourne-Ralph has secured qualification for both the English and British Championships next year with a bronze medal-winning performance.
In only the second competition of her young career, the 21-year-old fine art student lifted 60kg in the snatch and 76kg in the clean and jerk at the Central England Open in Mansfield last week.
Prestbury-based Shelbourne-Ralph had previously only competed in the British Student Championships in Twickenham earlier this year, having taken up the sport just over 12 months ago.
The Under-69kg lifter will now take on the best in England at the Carriageworks in Leeds at the end of January before going for glory in the British Age Group Championships in Castleford a month later.
As well as being part of the University of Gloucestershire’s weightlifting club, Shelbourne-Ralph trains up to six days a week at Gym66 in Cheltenham, where she has been coached by Sam Kennedy since November 2014.
Having always been an all-round sportswoman during her time at Cheltenham College, she took up weightlifting after stumbling across the club’s stall at the Freshers’ Fayre.
“I was quite good at a few sports, but never amazing at one,” she said.
“I had been going to the gym and doing some general training, but I decided to give weightlifting a go and I have a found a sport I absolutely love.
“At the start it was all technically based training, almost starting from scratch, but my gymnastics background did give me a slight advantage despite it being a long time ago.
“Since then it’s been about building strength and things finally fell into place at the competition last week, when I was pleasantly surprised to finish third.”
Competitors are given three attempts at the snatch, followed by three at the clean and jerk, with the overall total combined to determine their finishing position.
“I was going crazy on the inside, but I don’t think I showed it and there was so much adrenaline flowing,” Shelbourne-Ralph said.
“My dad was there watching and I wanted to do well for him. When the lifting started the whole place fell silent and then there were terrifying loud buzzers.
“I have performed musically in front of large audiences before, but this was massively out of my comfort zone.
“I just wanted to get the lifts done and do them well so getting a bronze medal was a bonus.”
Shelbourne-Ralph is now looking forward to seeing how far she can progress in the sport, still being a relative newcomer.
“I can’t believe the transformation since I started and I want to see how far I can go. I would love to be lifting some incredible weights,” she said.
“It’s a privilege to be working with people with so much knowledge and who care as much about you as themselves at the right times and of course I love feeling strong, reaching levels I didn’t think I’d be capable of.
“It’s such a rewarding physical and mental challenge.”
Courtesy of: Gloucestershire Echo