A KILCREGGAN café owner has broken a Scottish powerlifting record having only taken up the sport last year.

Siona Garden, a mum to three young girls, took up the sport to help her lose weight. As a café owner her work is often very physically demanding, including hog roasting and lifting pigs.

The 43-year-old wanted to make a change and spoke to Steve Losh of SOS Fitness, who was a customer at the café, about some personal training sessions at his gym in Clynder. A large part of the training was lifting weights and Siona realised it was a strength of hers.

She said: “I always knew I was quite strong but we realised that I really was strong for my size so then I began to focus on gaining strength with the intention of competing.”

Dan Kerr took over Siona’s coaching around September last year but she still trains at the SOS gym in Clynder as well as participating in some classes with SOS Fitness when she can.

Siona started lifting last year at the age of 42 and this year is her first time competing. So far she has participated in three competitions and aims to compete in two more before the end of the year.

In her first competition in Inverness she picked up silver in her weight category. In the second in Perth she took gold in her weight category, and her most recent competition at Ravenscraig Sports Centre saw Siona break Scottish records.

Siona told the Advertiser: “I successfully took the Scottish records for bench press, back squat and overall total for my age and weight category.

“Going into the competition at Ravenscraig, I knew there was a good chance of me beating the Scottish records as I had done so several times in the gym, but when I stood up from the back squat with the crowd cheering me on I was delighted that all the hard slog in the gym had paid off.”

Steve Losh, director of SOS Fitness, wasn’t surprised to hear of her success. He said: “I have been delighted to watch Siona’s success over the last few months. She has trained with SOS Fitness and its staff for over two years and has been a star student, always dedicated to her programme and willing to go the extra mile when required.

“She works extremely hard in the gym and it is no surprise that her hard work is paying off with her recent achievements in national events.

“We will always be here to support her and help her achieve her goals.”

Siona, who lives in Rosneath, said: “Powerlifting is my main interest outside of work. I train three, four, sometimes even five times a week for up to an hour-and-a-half each time, so I don’t have time for much else.

“What I like most about lifting is that it is my time to zone out from the day-to-day stresses of life. To date taking the records has definitely been my greatest achievement.”