Powerlifting: Herculean task awaits

Ethan Foote hopes to break the all-time New Zealand deadlift record in Columbus, Ohio, from today at the Arnold Schwarzenegger Sports Festival. Photo / Paul Taylor

He'll only have three attempts at it but you can bet your last dollar that Ethan Foote will burn every calorie in his dump truck-like frame in a bid to deadlift his way to glory in the United States.

"It's a long way to go to do that so I've got to make every one of them count," says Foote who jetted off last Sunday for Columbus, Ohio, where he'll be up against 11 other world-champion deadlifters from today to Sunday.

The 23-year-old from Hastings received an invite to the competition, which is part of the annual Arnold Schwarzenegger Sports Festival, after winning four gold medals (squat, bench, deadlift and overall) at the Commonwealth Powerlifting Championships in Vancouver before Christmas as a junior champion for the second consecutive time.

"It's the biggest moment of my career," says Foote who is mindful the festival is the "largest multi-sport event in America" where only ex-champions and current holders are invited.

Touted as "the greatest sports experience of your life", the festival, which actor-turned-politician Schwarzenegger started, entices more than 20,000 athletes annually since its inception in 1989 to compete nowadays in 45 sporting codes/events, including 12 Olympic ones.

The storeman from Rebel Sports Hastings will carry 150kg on his 1.95m frame when he attempts to break a New Zealand record that a fellow Bay powerlifter Derek Pomana holds at 367.5kg in deadlift.

"He's the best powerlifter New Zealand ever produced and he's a legend so it's just an honour for me to say I'll be lifting more than his record weight," says Foote who trains at the Hastings Fitness Centre while his coach, Warren Trent, lives in Wellington.

It'll be his maiden competition in the Open men's class, when he graduated last month, and it'll be mindblowing to be on the same mat at the Greater Columbus Convention Centre alongside Brad Gillingham, of Minnesota, in a predominantly US field that includes a Norwegian.

"He's got the biggest drug-free deadlift of 405kg but I'm looking to do 370kg."

If anyone doubts Foote's determination then they need only look at the tattooed inscription on his inner right arm that reads: "Today I'll do what others won't so tomorrow I can accomplish what others can't."

The organisers' approach to submit his entry came quite quickly so he hasn't had much time to prepare.

"I've just stayed smart with my training and looked after my body with lots of stretching and mobility."

He had a premonition he was going to go, never mind scurrying to find about $5000 to cover the expenses although he would appreciate any sponsorship to fly the country's flag abroad.

"Again, it's the biggest moment of my career and just the name [Schwarze-negger] says it all."

Foote has fond memories from his teenage years of the now 68-year-old Austrian-born champion bodybuilder who went on to spawn a rash of action films such as The Terminator, Commando, The Running Man and Total Recall, to name a few.

"I also remember seeing him in all the muscle mags," he says of the man who had the nicknames of "Austrian Oak" in his bodybuilding days, "Arnie" as an actor and "The Governator", when, as a Republican, he assumed the mantle of Governor of California for two terms, spanning from 2003 to 2011.