Powerlifter Mitch Lee achieves lifelong dream at ProRaw 12

Described as the most competitive event in the Southern Hemisphere, ProRaw's 12^th event got all the powerlifting federations together, pitting the strongest against each other.

Lee, who co-owns popular Northern fitness institution Competitive Edge with Jamie Dash, took out the 110kg weight category after a decade of competing.

"It's been a lifetime goal to actually take one of these out," he said.

"I've been competing for a little bit over 10 years and I've always found this competition to be the market point of competitions to really solidify who you are as a powerlifter.

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"So for me, it was one to definitely tick off the bucket list and now that it's done, it's time to set some new goals and see where I want to take it."

Competing on Sunday in Victoria, the 32-year-old totaled 910kg across the three disciplines - squat, bench press and deadlift.

Doing research on his fellow competitors before the event, he identified 910kg as the mark to get to, nailing it with a 360kg squat, 212.5kg bench press and 337.5kg deadlift.

The win was made even sweeter with the competition originally set to be held at the Arnold Sports Festival in 2020, before being pushed back two years due to COVID-19.

With the sport getting back on its feet nationally, Lee said his three-month preparation window for the event came with its challenges.

"Typically a prep for a powerlifting comp can spread anywhere from 6-12 weeks depending on where your strength levels lie, what kind of training you've been doing previously, how far away you are from your peak strength," he said.

"I like to usually leave about 12 weeks' worth of training, so about three months.

"Then leading into my prep, I got about eight weeks in and got hit with the spicy flu [COVID-19] and that threw a spanner in the works, so my last four weeks were pretty rushed and pretty average but I ended up getting over the line which was nice."

Lee admitted he got into the sport "by accident", thanks to his brother-in-law, James.

"I was training with my brother-in-law and he was good friends with Wayne Howlett, who has basically promoted powerlifting in Australia since it started getting popular.

"He was down in Hobart one day talking about doing a comp and James and I were saying how we typically trained bodybuilding and we weren't really sure what this sport is.

"About eight weeks later we jumped into our first comp and fell in love with the sport ever since."

The recent competition winner thanked James for getting him into the sport and for helping him see his true potential, while also thanking Dash, his coach Pat Morrison, his fiancé Jazz and the Competitive Edge team.

As a father to a young daughter, Lee credited Jazz for allowing him to do what he does best, while Morrison helped with his preparation and adjusted when needed.

Dash also competed at the event, finishing fourth in his weight category despite battling sickness.

"Him and I have been strategically putting plans in place for ourselves competing from day one since we teamed up about five years ago.

"His knowledge and support is next to none and his attention to detail is what makes him the best.

"Having him in my corner makes it a lot easier for myself, it means I don't have to do much thinking."

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Competitive Edge had a group of athletes competing at the international event, showing their support for both Lee and Dash.

"We built it - Jamie and I - but just the support they give us is like nothing else," Lee said.

"It's quite humbling and really pushes us further because of just how much support they show, we feel like we owe it to them."

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