This northern Ontario grandmother lifts her way to 'strongman' competition success

Chantal Routhier is not a typical grandmother.

For three years she's been participating in "strongman" competitions where athletes test their strength, speed and endurance by lifting and pulling heavy objects like logs and sandbags.

Routhier, 47, is now qualified to compete in the Strongman Games in Wisconsin next year after a strong placing at the Canadian Strongman Championships in Saint John, N.B.

She says she picked up the sport after watching a competition in her hometown of Kapuskasing, Ont.

"Sam Belliveau, she was doing the competition and I was looking at her and I'm like, 'Wow, you know, that's pretty impressive.' And I was pretty inspired by her," Routhier said.

Routhier asked Belliveau, a professional strongman competitor who currently holds the title of "strongest woman in Canada" if she did any coaching.

"And sure enough she did," Routhier said.

She started training with Belliveau and now spends 12 hours a week in the gym, in between working full-time and spending time with her family, including her three children and two grandchildren.

"The family has to make sacrifices for all of this to happen, right?" she said.

"You're not always available because you're training, you're doing all [these] things. But they are so supportive."

At the Canadian Strongman Championships competition in Saint John, she finished second in the women's amateur division.

"I couldn't be happier. I wasn't expecting to finish on the podium at all actually," she said.

"Competition is pretty fierce and these ladies are really strong. So finishing second on that podium, you know, this meant the world to me."

Routhier says she's found the sport to be really welcoming and encourages anyone to try it.

"You don't need to be this huge, strong, muscular woman to join this," she said.

"There is room for everybody. There is a category for everybody and every age."