Photo: US Air Force via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.
Seventy-two-year-old vegan powerlifter Pat Reeves has broken her own world deadlift record in the 70-74 age category, pulling 85.5kg (188lb) at the WDFPF World Single Lift Championships in Malta on Friday, June 1.
Reeves competes in the under-53kg class and weighed in at just 51.5kg, so this is a pull of more than one and a half times her own bodyweight. It adds half a kilo to the record she already held, and comes after she lifted 85kg at the British Single Lifts in February, according to her competition record.
Pat is still training and competing, and she has set herself the target of adding a kilo a year for as long as she stays in this age group. She told Great Vegan Athletes:
Next I need 86 kg at the 2019 National Singles and 86.5 kg at the 2019 World Singles in Orlando. For sure, it’s getting tougher to maintain this one kilo each year increase within current five year age category, especially as I’m still struggling with ongoing problems from Spring multiple surgeries.
Her story is remarkable well beyond the platform. Pat was diagnosed as terminally ill in 1977 and has fought the cancer with an extremely healthy lifestyle that includes a vegan diet. These days she eats very simply:
I eat very little nowadays, I juice a lot and obviously using living foods. I tend to eat around four days each week and remain on vegetable/living food juices for remainder. Vegan-ketogenic great for me!
Pat joins a long line of strong vegans we've featured, from strongman Patrik Baboumian to powerlifter Matthew Jones, and further proof that you don’t need meat to be strong. Just last month figure skater Meagan Duhamel retired as a two-time world champion after a decade on plants.
Age is just a number, and so is 85.5kg. Powered by plants.