The power and the glory: Carole O’Neil

It’s just seven years since Carole O’Neil first tried powerlifting at her local gym in Newcastle, having identified the sport as a fun and different way to keep fit.

Within weeks, she had entered her first competition, in Ashington, and, in October this year, will head to South Africa to represent England at the Commonwealth Powerlifting Federation Championships.

Its a story of incredible passion and progress – and a little amusement too.

She says: “I remember, during that first competition, standing in the queue to weigh in with about 30 other women.

“I got chatting to the lady in front and said, ‘have you competed before? Is it your first time?’

“And she said, ‘Oh, no. I’ve done a few,’” laughs Carole.

She adds: “It wasn’t until a couple of years later I found out this woman was Sue Hollands, an absolute legend of the sport, who was a multiple international athlete and multiple record holder.

“I was mortified.

“But they were all so lovely on the day.

“I’d made a mistake on my lift, on account of not knowing the rules, and the technical controller took me to one side and told me where I’d gone wrong and how to put it right.

“I had moments where I thought, ‘what am I thinking?’, but I like a challenge and powerlifting takes you out of your comfort zone.

“And it becomes very addictive too because it is very measurable.”

Carole’s belt is testament to the sport’s captivation; marked in black felt tip on its red lining are a series of numbers, each one denoting a progress landmark.

And it’s an obsession she takes into her work.

She says: “You get more and more interested in the data, particularly when you’re a bit of a data geek anyway.

“You can get drawn into it and start thinking, ‘if I tweak this, what would it do to that metric?’

“I’m a bit obsessive about writing things down. And I’m a pedant.

“I’ve got training diaries that go back years; I’m old school, I log my training in a book – I’ve got a physical diary – and I write down every session.

“It’s quite nice to look back on.”

Carole adds: “As you gain strength, you can see your numbers going up – mine went up quite steeply at first – and then, as you get a bit more experienced, you tend to hit a bit of a plateau and it gets harder and harder to put numbers on.

“I finally hit a number in the gym recently on my bench press that I’ve been chasing for two years.

“We go up in two-and-a-half kilogram increments on the weight, and I’d bench pressed 85 kilos in competition many, many times.

“I’d attempted 87-and-a-half in competition on five different occasions, but failed every time.

“Finally, though, I got it, and got it easily, and that’s what happens with this sport.

 

“You’re stuck and stuck and stuck, and then it clicks, and then the numbers go up again for a period, until you hit another plateau.

“I’ve got a brilliant, technical, physical coach, I have a nutrition coach and I’ve done some work over the years with a mindset coach, which has made a real difference.

“I used to get really bad nerves on competition day, which would get in the way of performance.

“So, I did a bit of work with Kay Woodburn, of Gritty People Athletes, just to help me get my head straight.

“And now, I just think this is meant to be fun.

“I’ve got enough stress at work, so I do this for fun – I rock up on competition days and just have a whale of a time.”

Carole’s powerlifting experiences are a marked contrast to her days at Darlington-based all-girl boarding school Polam Hall, and her time studying for a law degree at Oxford University, which led to work at a North East legal firm.

She says: “I dreamed of being a lawyer when I was a little girl. But I went to work in HR.”

She joined Cundall in 2007 and, under the tutelage of David Dryden, joined the global management board, becoming a partner and chartered director through the Institute of Directors.

She was appointed managing partner two years ago.

Her new role gives her the remit to expand and extend the One Cundall philosophy – to create a culture to encourage and retain talent – and build collaborative and connected teams.

And Carole says she owes much of her progress at Cundall to powerlifting.

She says: “It’s been huge; some of the challenges I’ve tackled at work, I probably would never have tackled if I hadn’t done this.

“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’re sitting on benches in the car park outside the Darlington-based North East Strength Culture gym, away from the background music and the clangs and clunks of weights she is set to effortlessly lift for photographer Ben Benoliel.

Underneath the Cundall tracksuit top – the official Team England uniform had yet to arrive – there is no sign of the ‘game face’, the ripped arms or the taut, rippled frame aiming and training for gold.

Only when she emerges in her “horrible singlet sausage suit”, from the changing room at the back of the gym, does her appearance change.

Alongside her time in the gym, Carole trains in the garage of her home near Newcastle, the equipment built and purchased with husband Andy during COVID-19 lockdowns.

It’s in this oasis of exercise and experimentation that she refines her craft ahead of the next competition, which, in the past, have come courtesy of Cundall.

She says: “I spent six months on assignment with Cundall in Australia.

“I called the Australian powerlifting body and asked if I could compete in their nationals, got permission, flew into Sydney, picked up a hire car, drove up the coast to a place called Swansea and competed.

“And it was brilliant; it was such a good way of meeting people in a new country, and I made some really good friends who I’m still in touch with.

“Some of these opportunities with Cundall have cropped up after I’ve started doing powerlifting, and the managing partner election was not a decision I took lightly.

“It was a big decision in terms of my career, the contribution I wanted to make to the business, and the time I would be spending away from my husband and the dog.

“There was a lot of soul searching, and I think having that confidence from powerlifting probably swung things.

“It was also quite a departure for the business because it is the first time we’ve had someone who hasn’t come through that client-facing, project delivery route in the managing partner role.

“I’ve been here 17 years, and if you’d said to me then I’d still be here and be managing partner, I’d have laughed at you.

“As a business, we’ve got 27 offices globally now, but we’re really committed to preserving and protecting the culture of the business; we don’t want to be another big corporate.”

Cundall has made its mark in projects across the globe, from solar panels in the North East to sustainable masterplans in the Middle East.

It has worked on transforming Newcastle’s Farrell Centre into a new centre for architecture, the city’s Bank House into an attractive new office destination and turned the Duchess of Northumberland’s Lilidorei vision at Alnwick Gardens into one of the largest play structures in the world.

And further projects in Manchester – Eden with its largest living wall – and West Coventry Academy – a net-zero school – are setting a benchmark for an ambitious net-zero target.

Carole says: “We’ve got a lot happening; we have some brilliant clients and some really exciting projects.

“We’re doing some really impactful work in the sustainability space and, with all of the challenges of climate change and the urgency around it, it’s an exciting time for our industry.

“We have a huge impact on the environment, and that can be a really positive impact if we get it right.

“One of the brilliant things about my role is that people take me out to their projects all over the world.

“They want to show me what they’re doing and I love it because it brings things to life; I see all of the great things our people are doing – and we’re doing some really great stuff.”

For now, though, attention is on the Commonwealth Powerlifting Federation Championships, and preparation for Carole’s individual and team events, with structured training in place to reduce intensity and let the body shed fatigue so it is in prime condition.

It’s a complex programme, influenced by her online nutrition coach Pia, whose company Fiercely Fueled Nutrition is based in Johannesburg; they will meet for the first time in the flesh at the games.

Carole says: “I took the decision about a year ago to drop a weight class to the 76s, because I’d always competed as a fairly light 84-kilo lifter.

“And with Pia’s brilliant guidance, I’ve managed to do that.

“I’ve dropped about six kilos in body weight, but I’ve actually got stronger – which isn’t normally the direction of travel – but she’s a magician.

“And I’m excited because she’s a lifter as well, so she’s going to be competing at the Commonwealths too, and I can’t wait to meet her for the first time in person.

“She’s pulled a little team of ten people together, and we’re all going off on safari for a few days after we’ve finished competing.”

Carole adds: “It’s sport, so you never know.

“But I’m in with a decent shot at a medal in the bench press, and I would hope to get points for the team on the full power and possibly a podium place.

“We’ll find out.”

 

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