AFTER five years away from competition, 60-year-old Moree powerlifter Eric Dumas claimed Gold at the 2024 World and Commonwealth Masters Powerlifting Championships in South Africa in October.

And, he says, Moree PCYC has a lot to do with his success.

Dumas, a Moree dentist, won squat and deadlift events and amassed Masters’ 3 total points for age and body weight divisions (105kg).

On October 4, Dumas won the Commonwealth title from Canadians Sterling Nering and Ron Kilpatrick.

The next day, he again outlifted Sterling, with Slovakian Horny Ladislav third, to bring the world title back to Moree.

His performance also secured Australia second world-ranking as well as Commonwealth first-ranking for team event trophies.

Dumas’s impressive figures includes squats (252.5kg), bench-press (132.5kg) and deadlift (255kg).

The dual success comes on the back of Dumas winning his age and body weight divisions at the Australian Nationals in June – a win that qualified him for a shot at the World and Commonwealth titles in Sun City, South Africa.

Dumas said staff and equipment at Moree PCYC played a major role in his success.

Powerlifter Eric Dumas at Moree PCYC, where he trains regularly and credits the facility for much of his success.

“The support provided by the PCYC in Moree has been wonderful,” Dumas said.

“Staff, volunteers and members have always been enormously encouraging, kindly accommodating and extraordinarily helpful.

“The range of equipment available supports resistance training in various forms and Moree PCYC provides multiple training stations, allowing great opportunities to train for a variety of performance-based endeavours,” he said.

Powerlifting comprises three lifts, performed in competition – squat, bench-press and deadlift.

The highest of the three attempts in each discipline, as well as the total of three, determines the winner in each weight and age class.

Dumas last tasted victory at international level when collecting gold at the 2018 World Powerlifting Championships at Virginia Beach in the United States.

He also won age and weight divisions in the Oceania Championships and Pacific Invitationals in Singapore in 2017 as well as the Asia & Oceania Classic Powerlifting Championships in New Zealand in 2016.

Dumas has already commenced training to defend his national, commonwealth and world titles next year.

“I’ve resumed training and will work on attaining weights closer to the current squat and deadlifts, as well as total age and weight class. The International Powerlifting Federation world records are targets,” Dumas said.