‘I won World’s Strongest Woman after having two children’

When Donna Moore began competing in Strongwoman events, the results attracted the attention of a small but dedicated group of followers on Facebook groups.

More than a decade later, the three-time world champion will be in front of a crowd of 1,400 for the Britain’s Strongest Woman final at the York Barbican this weekend.

Moore, 45, grew up in Colburn, near Catterick in North Yorkshire, but did not discover weightlifting until she was already a mother of two children wanting to improve her fitness.

“I started training in a normal gym at classes where there’s about 30 people and you’re doing aerobics or light weights, because I wasn’t very confident and I didn’t know anything about how to go into a gym by myself.

“I did these classes and I enjoyed it, the camaraderie between the people, and it made me want to turn up.

“When I got a little braver I went to a regular gym and learned a few different things to do. And through that journey, progressed until I got signposted to a more independent kind of gym that was focused on heavier lifting.”

In the early 2000s, she would watch World’s Strongest Woman and the men’s competition on TV and thought the events were “really cool”, but she knew little about how to enter.

“Fast forward 10-12 years, I’ve been hooked ever since and it’s what I’ve been doing for the past decade.”

Many entrants used to train and compete in car parks, but specialised gyms now cater for their needs and events are held in indoor venues.

“It’s gone from competitions where they were outside or in fields or in car parks to selling out the Barbican. And that’s the third year in a row,” said Moore.

“It’s grown so much in participation because it is more accessible. Obviously social media has helped.”

She has 54,600 followers on Instagram and yet until recently she worked for the NHS.

She now makes a living training other women alongside her competition income.

“I wouldn’t say you’re able to do it as a job. I coach as my job, so it’s helped me to have a job in that respect. So that’s great. But no, I don’t think, especially people from the UK, there are any of us who are solely competing.

“We all have other avenues to be able to compete.”

In the US, strongwomen have more opportunities, and in Scandinavia the sport is more widely accepted, but things are changing in the UK – with more strongwomen gaining higher profiles.

“There’s lots of people from America who are very good, in other European countries, in Scandinavia, they get it a little bit more. So it’s been more prevalent for a longer time.

“But now the UK is starting to see that women being stronger is acceptable, and society’s norms are changing. So that’s helped the growth of the sport a lot.”

The change, she added, is reflective of a wider societal shift from focusing on losing weight to gaining muscle.

“People see the benefits of being strong and when you start weight training it is a little bit addictive, because you see the changes in your body and how much better you feel, so you keep going.

“It’s more commonplace that women don’t mind having muscle.

“I think it’s really because they’ve realised how much better they feel for lifting weights.”

Saturday’s competition will see Moore joined by deadlift world record holder Lucy Underdown, former rugby player Rebecca Roberts and world record holder for the log lift, Andrea Thompson, among others.

“It’s a really tough line-up. There’s loads of world titles all mixed in to this competition at very high standards, so it’s going to be a really tough day.

“I have my own personal goals set within this competition. Some of these events are a little bit more tricky for me, so I’m hoping to have fun, put on a good show for the crowd and the people who watch it on the live stream.”

The event involves a deadlift ladder – four deadlift bars in a row – a 136kg shield carry, a 280kg yoke carried across the back, and reps with a 90kg wooden log.

“And then at the very end, it’s a sandbag steeple chase, which is 200kg bag down a 20m track, and you have to load them over and implement in the middle, so essentially you have to pick it up four times and run quite a long way.”

Despite the challenges, Moore said the homecoming was what she was excited for.

“My family are all coming to watch this time. York’s obviously really beautiful and the Barbican is a nice venue, so I am looking forward to coming home to compete for it.”