Saturday, April 07, 2007
Info on Luke Pike (Mike's nephew)
National title for accomplished student athlete
Luke Pike
By Jeff Green
Fifth-year Science student Luke Pike turned a few heads recently at an elite athletic event in Nova Scotia. The Grand Bank native, who graduates next month after completing a joint honours degree in biochemistry and chemistry and is this province’s latest Rhodes Scholar, is now the 100 kilogram junior national champion after competing in the 2007 Canadian National Powerlifting Championships in Dartmouth.
The 23-year-old Memorial student came out on top in his category, lifting a combined total of 697.5 kilograms. in three separate components: squats, bench press and deadlift. There were more than 100 people at the championships.
“I’m ecstatic,” he said. “I’ve been training for more than six years now and I’ve been aiming at this goal for quite a while. I’m excited to represent Memorial, Newfoundland and Canada on the international level.”
Becoming the junior national champion in his category means Mr. Pike earns bragging rights to head to France for the International Powerlifting Federation’s world juniors in September.
“I’m psyched and scared,” he added with a laugh. He said holding the national title is quite significant for him as an athlete.
“It means that all the work I’ve done has been fruitful and it gives me motivation to work even harder in hopes of placing at the international level,” he explained. “In going from provincial and regional-level meets to the national-level meets, the calibre of lifting and the intensity of competition increase tremendously. In going to the world level, it will be so much greater.”
Mr. Pike trains at Memorial during the week, as well as with a group of other lifters. He said there are three key things that make up any good powerlifter: “dedication, never missing any training sessions; tolerance for pain, both physical from injury and mental from loss; and aggression and drive. This sport is 90 per cent mental and 10 per cent physical.”
Meanwhile, in addition to being excited about heading to France in September, garnering a new title and graduating in May, Mr. Pike said he’s equally thrilled about starting a new chapter in his academic career later this October. That’s when he heads off to Oxford University to begin studies at the Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine to complete a graduate degree in medical oncology.
Read more: Gazette, Dec. 14, 2006: Grand Bank native becomes latest Rhodes Scholar.
“I have received official acceptance to the university,” he said with a wide smile. “I am looking forward to the tremendous academic experience as well as the opportunity to train with the varsity team there.”
April 5, 2007
Luke Pike
By Jeff Green
Fifth-year Science student Luke Pike turned a few heads recently at an elite athletic event in Nova Scotia. The Grand Bank native, who graduates next month after completing a joint honours degree in biochemistry and chemistry and is this province’s latest Rhodes Scholar, is now the 100 kilogram junior national champion after competing in the 2007 Canadian National Powerlifting Championships in Dartmouth.
The 23-year-old Memorial student came out on top in his category, lifting a combined total of 697.5 kilograms. in three separate components: squats, bench press and deadlift. There were more than 100 people at the championships.
“I’m ecstatic,” he said. “I’ve been training for more than six years now and I’ve been aiming at this goal for quite a while. I’m excited to represent Memorial, Newfoundland and Canada on the international level.”
Becoming the junior national champion in his category means Mr. Pike earns bragging rights to head to France for the International Powerlifting Federation’s world juniors in September.
“I’m psyched and scared,” he added with a laugh. He said holding the national title is quite significant for him as an athlete.
“It means that all the work I’ve done has been fruitful and it gives me motivation to work even harder in hopes of placing at the international level,” he explained. “In going from provincial and regional-level meets to the national-level meets, the calibre of lifting and the intensity of competition increase tremendously. In going to the world level, it will be so much greater.”
Mr. Pike trains at Memorial during the week, as well as with a group of other lifters. He said there are three key things that make up any good powerlifter: “dedication, never missing any training sessions; tolerance for pain, both physical from injury and mental from loss; and aggression and drive. This sport is 90 per cent mental and 10 per cent physical.”
Meanwhile, in addition to being excited about heading to France in September, garnering a new title and graduating in May, Mr. Pike said he’s equally thrilled about starting a new chapter in his academic career later this October. That’s when he heads off to Oxford University to begin studies at the Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine to complete a graduate degree in medical oncology.
Read more: Gazette, Dec. 14, 2006: Grand Bank native becomes latest Rhodes Scholar.
“I have received official acceptance to the university,” he said with a wide smile. “I am looking forward to the tremendous academic experience as well as the opportunity to train with the varsity team there.”
April 5, 2007
# posted by mandogrl @ 4:24 p.m. 
