Local athlete shares wishes for New Year

Monday 31 December 2018

At just 22 years old, Rachel Leck is among the strongest women in Jersey: she is part of a team of 10 wonder women pumping iron in bid to become Jersey's first ever team of Olympic female weightlifters.

2018 was a busy year for Rachel, who despite having cerebral palsy, regularly attends weightlifting training and climbed Mount Kilimanjaro to help raise funds for Mind Jersey, all the while working full time.

Rachel's journey to fitness when she was studying Chemistry with Forensic Science at Hull university. She was captain of the women's tennis team and started taking personal training sessions. She now works full time for Deloitte and has been busy studying towards her second year in her accountancy qualification.

In her spare time, she likes to play tennis and regularly enters her local club leagues. "It helps me maintain my aerobic fitness and has helped my mental strength in sport," she explained. To relieve stress she can also count on her five cats, who are always ready to cuddle after a hard training session.

Rachel wrote about her year for Express and what she is most looking forward to in 2019, as well as her plans for the holidays.

What was your key achievement this year?

Going to my first competition with my coach Sam Morris, equaling my Personal Best (PB) and unknowingly qualifying for the British Classic Bench Press Championships in February 2019!

And also going to my second competition on my own and hitting a competition PB of 60kg which had been one of my goals for a few months! But also joining the Jersey Sport Foundation where I've met lots of fellow minded people and made some really good friends of all ages and sports.

What do you want to achieve in 2019?

I’m looking forward to entering the Para Powerlifting competitions next year as I received my national classification confirmed in November and meeting my fellow athletes. As some context, with para sports you have to have an eligible impairment and meet a minimum impairment criteria in order to compete and my impairment is cerebral palsy. 

I would like to achieve my international classification next year which means I can compete on the world stage. I am also looking forward to achieving new PB's and seeing how much I can improve following on from my successes this year.
 

Pictured: Rachel is looking forward to more competitions in the New Year.

What did you do for Christmas? What are your plans for New Year's Eve?

I ate lots of chocolate, mince pies and good food, had a nice break from training over Christmas and spent more time with family and friends before I get busy again! January is the start of a busy season at work and it will also be the start of my competition calendar for the year!