Meet the NI Olympic weightlifter whose progress is going from strength to strength

Last month, the 24-year-old took first place at the Munster Open with 171kg total (75kg snatch and 96kg clean and jerk), a 27kg increase in her total from first competing in April 2023.

The Co Londonderry athlete got into Olympic weightlifting thanks to CrossFit.

Rachel, who had been horse-riding for about a decade, went to the leisure centre gym having “a bit of strength”.

“Then I joined CrossFit just in the mouth of Covid, and then from that I’d done bits at home,” she explains.

“I got a barbell from a local gym and wasn’t really able to do much because I was still very new. Then when Covid died down a wee bit, I was in the gym all the time doing CrossFit.”

Last year, Rachel, who works in marketing, wrote down a goal to do something new.

“In CrossFit, you’re doing your gymnastics, you’re doing your Olympic weightlifting and then you have a cardio side of it,” she says.

“People can be good at one thing or you can be good overall. I wasn’t bad at everything, but I knew I had a natural apt to the weightlifting, a good mobility and I’d see my numbers go up.

“I wrote down a goal that I wanted to do a competition at some stage. Then I really just zoned into it from April 2023 and that got me going to want to do more. Once I ticked that box, I thought, I need to tick more boxes.”

Ahead of her first competition, she remembers feeling “completely zoned out” and nervous. That said, she was awarded second place with 144kg total lift.

“It was definitely so new. I had done maybe a few CrossFit competitions beforehand.

“CrossFit is very loud: everyone’s cheering and maybe you work in pairs or larger teams.

“With the Olympic weightlifting, it’s just you up on that platform. Everyone’s looking at you and it’s dead silent.

“It’s completely different from a CrossFit competition and from what I was used to, so the nerves were going mad.

“Once I had the first one done, I just felt a bit of relief and I was excited then to do another.”

Not only is the physical side vital to any competition, but so too the mental side, keeping focused even if there’s surrounding noise or activity.

Rachel agrees. “I’d walked on and I was about to do my lift and I heard a baby cry,” she says of that first competition.

“You’re so zoned in that you don’t even hear anyone but that wee thing, I was like ‘Oh no’. It ended up it was fine after that.

“With experience, you learn that you really zone in that much that you don’t hear anything.

“Someone could walk in front of you and you have to blank everyone, you’re just zoning in that it’s just you there and you forget about everyone else.”

Since then, Rachel achieved first place in the Whitewolf Open last September, second place in the Ulster Open in November and placed first in the NI Championships that same month, hitting 73kg snatch and 95kg clean and jerk in the 64kg category to take the award of best female lifter and National Champion 2023 with her 168kg total.

Rachel previously mentioned rising numbers and it’s fair to say what she’s able to lift has increased significantly.

“I moved up to Belfast in May, June time of last year and then I was being coached by James Knox [of Scrabo Strength Weightlifting] and he would be a very good weightlifter,” explains Rachel.

“We work really well together. He’s really useful in terms of his programming and how he helps me and his feedback.

“I have to say it was probably a lot down to the coaching and his drive; he could see potential in me and it really pushed me on.”

Her goal is Olympics 2028 in Los Angeles — “I know there’s an Olympics this year so there’s not much focus on four years’ time, but it’s definitely something in the pipeline” — and appreciates the hard road ahead.

“At this stage, this year, I suppose I have to take it year by year because you always have injuries and things in life that come up.

“By the end of this year, I would like to get to the World Championship stage in Bahrain. It’s in December so I need to get a bit stronger and hit my total for that.

“Then I would like if the Commonwealth Games were in the pipeline. I’m not sure how that is at the moment, but I would love to be able to qualify for it if it actually goes ahead in 2026.”

Rachel, who trains “probably” every day, starts her Monday to Fridays at 5am, spending approximately two-and-a-half hours in the gym each morning. Thursdays, often rest days for some, mean cardio work, while weekends could see her in the gym for up to four hours.

“There’s a lot of stretching and mobility having to be done around that time,” she says.

“I work right beside the gym I train in, so it’s good that it’s less travel time between my sessions and going to work.

“It’s a lot of hard work because you’re still trying to meal prep and get the right nutrition.

“It’s good in a way that I still do the CrossFit because it helps keep my body at a sort of maintenance weight.”

“I have to be so careful. I did that competition and had a week off,” she says, explaining she didn’t really go the gym.

“I just wanted to clear my head from it before starting fresh again and I didn’t track or look at what I was eating. I do feel a bit sh***y, starting a new week into a 12-week programme, but it sets you up again to get back to work.”

Rachel is aware that she’s a role model for other women, not just in her discipline, but sport in general. She also coaches CrossFit and Olympic weightlifting in her spare time, as well as dog walking and pet sitting.

“It was down to me seeing other women in Sport NI doing this and doing well in weightlifting… they push me on and I’m sure there are people that push them on,” she says of being an advocate for women in sport.

“You’re sort of acting a role model and the way you come across in gyms and whatever you put on your social media.”

Rachel adds that there’s a “large gap” in general with women, especially coaches.

“The likes of going to the World Series, Olympics or Power Olympics, there’s such a large gap of women behind the scenes, so I really do want to push on, not just for me but for other people and other athletes and other coaches who aspire to do things and get out there as women.”

This January, she was chosen to join the Sport NI RISE female leadership programme.

Rachel attends monthly seminars to help gain valuable leadership skills to promote inclusivity and diversity in sport.

“When I joined the Sport NI female leadership programme, it opened my eyes to the gap between male and female leaders and how you approach people in different ways and how you lead teams and workforces.

“Very few people are females in leadership positions, so it’s really nice to be in a place where you can influence others.”

​Follow Rachel’s weightlifting journey on Instagram @rmon42