Carole O’Neil, Managing Partner at Cundall, represented England and won a gold, a silver and a bronze medal at the Commonwealth Powerlifting Federation Championships in Sun City, South Africa in October 2024.

Carole was in the Masters 1 Under 76kg category and her competition spanned across two dates. The first being the Bench Press Only event and a second Full Power.

At the Bench Press Only event Carole pressed 80kg, 85kg and 90kg, with 90kg being her Personal Best and setting a new record for her home division of Yorkshire and North East.

On the 9th of October, Carole competed in the Full Power lift where she bagged a silver for Bench and an overall bronze medal for her 412.5kg total. Carole set herself the goal of lifting over 400kg, which she achieved to great success.To add to the excitement, she briefly also held the Commonwealth bench press record.

Carole has a fascinating journey in powerlifting, filled with passion, perseverance and grit. It was only seven years ago when she first gave the sport a shot at her local gym and soon after, went to her first competition in Ashington. It was only up from there as plenty more followed.

In September of this year, Carole sat down with Colin Young, editor at the North East Times, for an interview on the duality of her role as Managing Partner of a global engineering consultancy and a (now) Commonwealth Powerlifting Gold Medalist. She explained: “Powerlifting gives you confidence and resilience to know you can do difficult things. If you can put 130 kilos on your back and squat, you know you can pretty much handle anything.”

We are all immensely proud of Carole’s achievements and dedication to her sport.

Read the full North East Times article here.