Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

‘Pupils find it crazy’: Moray teacher becomes European powerlifting champion

Graeme Reid, from Findochty, broke two Scottish records while claiming the top spot in the competition while competing with Team GB.

Graeme with his medals
Graeme Reid won European Champion at the competition in Istanbul.

An Elgin teacher was named a European Champion last week at a powerlifting competition.

Graeme Reid, 45, won the title when he broke two Scottish records in the European Bench Press championships in Istanbul.

The competition on August 8 brought powerlifters from all over Europe to compete against others in their age and weight class.

Graeme, who is from Findochty but works as a teacher in Elgin, trained in Spain for over two weeks before the championships to get used to the warm climate.

Friend introduced Graeme to world of powerlifting

Mr Reid first started powerlifting six years ago when he was 39.

He said: “A friend said to me that I should give powerlifting a try.

“I didn’t really know much about it and thought it was like going to the gym, but my friend made me realise it’s more of a set discipline.

“I’ve focused on the bench press and it’s kind of just gone from there.

“When you do a sport, you’ve always got that itch to be the best you can be.”

Graeme’s 240kg lift secured him the title of European Champion.

Graeme’s opening lift at the championships in Istanbul was 230kg which became his new personal best and even broke the Scottish record.

After that, he managed to break the record he had just created by lifting 240kg.

He narrowly missed the 250kg for his final lift but his previous achievements secured him first place and he became the European Champion for his age and weight class.

Graeme beat the 2024 world champion lifter Rene Gross from Germany, as well as experienced Swedish lifter Martin Anderrson.

‘Emotional experience’ for the strongman

Graeme said: “I’m not really emotional and I don’t cry very often – but I cried when I got the award.

“It was quite overwhelming because the two other lifters looked like they could beat me from previous results.

“I thought I’d maybe walk away with third – I never expected first place.”

Graeme said the support from his competitors was overwhelming, and they’ve even kept in contact with him after the competition.

“It’s a competitive sport, but I would say I’ve made some friends that will probably stay with me forever,” he added.

Graeme Reid, right, was one of 37 lifters on Team GB who went to the competition.

The championship last week was Graeme’s third outing with Team GB.

“I’d taken a year out but then I got re-selected by Team GB for this competition, so I knew a lot of the team already anyways,” he said.

“So actually, when we got all together in Turkey, it was great to meet a lot of familiar faces.

“It was really nice arriving at the hotel and everyone was chatting and catching up with each other. It felt really welcoming.”

Because of the successes from other members of Team GB, they were awarded a bronze team medal.

Pupil inspired by Graeme’s powerlifting journey

Mr Reid has worked as a teacher for 25 years.

He currently works in Elgin as a teacher with the Moray Social, Emotional and Behavioural Needs team.

“I’ve come back to school this week and the young people were really interested about the championships,” he said.

“Some young people that used to be pupils have also been in touch to say well done.

“It’s really nice to hear because they go off to college or employment, and it’s nice that they remember their teacher.”

When Graeme shows his pupils videos of his team’s powerlifting, he said that they find it ‘crazy’.

He added: “They think it’s crazy. When you look at it, I guess it kind of is.

“I work in Elgin and there’s not really that kind of a stuff happening here.

“The kids are quite encouraging about it, but they all bet they could beat me in competitions.

“We’ve had one child even go on and become a Scottish champion for his age group.”

Medals
Along with Graeme’s own personal medals, Team GB scooped up a bronze medal too.

‘Incredible’ support from friends and family

The powerlifter was flooded with over 300 messages congratulating his performance when he got back to his hotel.

He said: “People were really supportive, it’s been incredible. I’ve even heard from people I hadn’t spoken to in years.

“My wife especially has been really supportive with everything. This is things like letting me train four times a week, eat a special diet and just do my own thing with weightlifting.

“She understands that pretty much everyone does a sport, but for me it’s more than that. This is for my mental health.”

Graeme is documenting his journey to lifting 250kg on his social media account and wants people interested in the sport to feel free to get in contact with him.

“If there’s anybody who is interested in learning about powerlifting and wishing to compete in that, I’m more than happy to help people in the local area,” he added.

“If I was never told about the sport from my friend, I’d probably just be a normal bloke in the gym.

“Now, because that friend told me about it, I’m competing on an international level.”

Conversation