Throughout the afternoon of Friday, November 22, the top male and female weightlifters who reside or work in the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community competed in a bench press competition at the Way of Life Facility’s (WOLF) Fitness Center to see who the top lifter in each weight category would be.

SRPMIC Public Health Diabetes Prevention Services presented the competition, which was supervised by Dion Begay, senior physical fitness specialist. Begay was recently featured by Men’s Health magazine in their series of articles highlighting the challenges and triumphs of fitness trainers, athletes and gym owners from Native American communities.

Some participants signed up ahead of time, while others came for the weigh-in and to compete on the day of the event. Each lifter in each weight class had three attempts to lift their heaviest weight.

“A lot of people think it’s going to be the heavyweights who win,” said Begay. “My buddy Joe Garza [who couldn’t be here for this competition], he won last year, and he was the strongest lifter. He only weighs 208 pounds. He pressed 375 pounds.”

In total, there were 30 participants in the event. After three hours of competition, the top female lifter was Kristy White, in the 271 lb.-and-up weight class with a bench weight of 165, and the top male lifter was Jamison AhQuin, in the 271 lb.-and-up weight class with a bench weight of 365 lbs.

Begay said that the competition started about a decade ago to encourage people to begin strength training to stay healthy. Years ago, SRPMIC member Thosh Collins, who was also featured in the Men’s Health magazine article, approached Begay with an idea for a new challenge, a competition that encompasses more athleticism, including squats and pushing and pulling. The Strength & Endurance Challenge was born from that idea. From November 18 to 22, men and women competed in the challenge to win prizes in each age category. An air bike challenge was also added to the competition. The fastest half-mile sprinter on the Rogue Air Bike won a prize. In the endurance challenge, the best overall female was Leah Kochampenasken, and the best overall male was Melchor Solis. In the air bike challenge, the best female time was Michelle Roan with :63.27, and the best male time was Shaunton Davis with :54.27.

“Some people don’t like to bench press,” said Begay. “They’re more athletic and want to do stuff that involves more cardio and mental fortitude, toughness and endurance. Some people don’t like cardio, so they do the bench press.”