Parksville’s most senior weighlifter, Ed Fergusson, was recently presented with the 2022 Lifetime Achievement Award by the Canadian Masters Weighlifting Federation.
The 87-year-old was honoured by the federation for his dedicated years of service in promoting Olympic weightlifting and for his unrelenting support of the federation.
Fergusson, who continues to compete and coach in Parksville, has been weighlifting since the 1960s and helped form the Edmonton Weightlifting Association in 1970. It later expanded to become the Alberta Weightlifting Association. He continued to be very involved in planning the 1977 Canadian Championships and the 1978 Commonwealth Games.
READ MORE: Podcast: Ed Fergusson still lifting weights, coaching at age 87 after heart attack
At the school level, Fergusson coached clubs from 1963 to 2005. He went on to earn his Coaching Levels 1,2,3 under the National Coaching Certification Program and the Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist from its USA National Association. Fergusson is an active International Level 2 Technical Official and has conducted over 40 Level One NCCP courses and several Level Two courses in Alberta and Yukon.
Fergusson first competed as a masters at the 1977 Pan American Masters Championships in Edmonton and went on to compete in the 1996 World Masters Championships in Collingwood, Ont., the 2005 World Masters in Edmonton and 2008 World Masters in Greece.
Fergusson was appointed Western representative of the federation and became British Columbia representative after the federation restructured.
“Ed willingly stayed on to represent British Columbia,” said Mark Gomes, federation president and national chair. “Ed has been an asset to our federation and a good friend. At the young age of 87, Ed coaches several times a week at two different gyms in Parksville, and holds the prestigious position as the oldest member of our federation with an unbroken membership history with us.”
— NEWS Staff