Tough enough: Strongman competition remembers a young woman lost and offers hope to others

Apr. 15—While their neighbors were attending church services or hiking the Sandias, about 20 people, male and female, ages 14 to 74, busted their guts Sunday morning, pressing barbell plates above their heads, hoisting 60- to 140-pound concrete spheres and flipping tires weighing up to 200 pounds or more.

This determined bunch gathered with coaches and helpers at Albuquerque's TNT Gym to prepare for Lift 4 Lani 4, an April 27 strongman/woman competition that memorializes a young woman's lost struggle with addiction while raising money to help other women achieve stable and healthy lives.

Lori Christ, 66, 123 pounds, holds national and even world records in her age and weight class in powerlifting, but that and the strongman competition are different kinds of challenges.

"This is my first strongman and it is a whole new world for me," she said. "It is good to get out of my comfort zone."

Testing herself in one of the competition's events, Christ grasped a hoop attached to a 70-pound barbell plate and lifted it behind her while simultaneously lifting a 90-pound plate in front of her. The idea is to hold them as long as possible.

"Thirty seconds feels like 30 minutes," she said.

Toni Mondragon, 31, a legal secretary, was only recently introduced to strongman competition, but thinks she wants to get more into it.

She said she is most comfortable with the yoke event, in which a competitor carries a heavy rack, sometimes made heavier with barbell plates, on his or her shoulders. She doesn't care much for the Viking Press, during which contestants push weights above their heads.

"I have really strong legs, but my arms are spaghetti," she said. "What I like best is what this is about. A lot of women need help getting out of bad situations."

A vital mission

Lift 4 Lani 4 starts at 9 a.m. April 27 at TNT Gym, 8509 Paseo Alameda NE. Money raised in the competition will benefit Crossroads for Women, an Albuquerque organization that provides a variety of services to help women transition from incarceration to safe, healthy and fulfilling lives.

As the name of this year's competition suggests, this is the fourth year it is being held.

Sonja Schofield, 48, a strongman coach at TNT, initiated the competition in memory of her daughter, Lani Tideman, who struggled with alcohol addiction and died at age 23 just before Christmas in 2020. When she died, Tideman had a daughter who was just months old.

"At first I thought her drinking was just a college thing, until it became obvious she was really bad into alcohol," Schofield said. She said her daughter had been in rehab in Arizona for five or six months not long before she died.

"She desperately wanted to get sober for her daughter," Schofield said. "She would smoke Xanax to keep from going out to get alcohol. But that last pill was pure fentanyl. I don't think she knew it was fentanyl. Alcohol and addiction takes everything from you."

Schofield said her daughter was never incarcerated, but she selected Crossroads for Women as the beneficiary of Lift 4 Lani because of the many services — housing, counseling, legal aid and more — Crossroads makes available to women trying to make a good life for themselves and, in some cases, their children.

"I really love their mission," Schofield said. "They do more than any other single organization does. Each year we have raised a little more money for Crossroads. Last year it was more than $2,000."

Move that truck

Although Lift for Lani is designed for people new to strongman competition, all levels of ability are welcome, as are all ages. Events are especially tailored for kids. Schofield is expecting her 6-year-old niece to take part this year.

The five events in the competition are:

—Viking Press: Competitors press weights above their heads, getting in as many reps as they can in 60 seconds.

—Dinnie Stones Hold: Weight plates are used instead of stones. Competitors lift the weights off the floor and hold them for as long as they can.

—Ardblair Stones: Competitors attempt to lift heavy spheres high enough to drop them over a log barrier.

—Yoke and Tire Medley: Competitors carry a heavy metal rack called a yoke for 50 feet, and then run back and flip a tire for 50 feet.

—Truck Load and Pull: A competitor carries three sandbags 25 feet and loads them on a truck. Then the competitor gets in a harness and attempts to pull the truck 50 feet.

Competitors who have already signed up for the competition were at TNT Gym Sunday to get acquainted with the various events.

TNT Gym owner David Torrez's 14-year-old twins, Alex and Jakob, were getting at it. Alex has competed in the Lift 4 Lani before. She was wearing her red Lani T-shirt. But she will miss it this year because she is in a dance competition the same weekend. Jakob, however, is set to go.

"The one I like best is the truck pull," he said. "It just looks cool pulling a truck."

Vicky Schofield, 70, likes the truck pull as well.

"It tests what you can really do," she said. "It is awesome just to be able to move a truck. I can't do the Viking Press at all."

Vicky has competed in every Lift for Lani to date.

"Lani was my granddaughter," she said. "I will compete in every one."

Community support

Gym member Brian Kearney, 45, who works in real estate, is into powerlifting but decided to take on his first strongman competition.

"This is for a good cause," he said. "I thought it would be a good first event for me."

"It's different than powerlifting. Powerlifting is just four events, and they are symmetrical, have a set form. Strongman is asymmetrical, a lot of odd angles. But it's a lot of fun."

Leslie Villagomez, 25, just passed the bar exam and is preparing for a career in immigration law. She joined TNT in July and competed in her first strongman competition in March in El Paso, taking first place in the novice women's division.

"It's a male-dominated sport," she said. "I like feeling strong. It gives me confidence. And I like the community. It is so supportive."

And community is what Lift 4 Lani is really all about.

"I really admire coach Sonja, and I want to support Crossroads," Villagomez said.

Berenice Gill, 74, a retired respiratory therapist who has engaged in strength training since the early 1980s, will be competing in her third Lift for Lani.

"I'm doing it this year because I'm physically capable," she said. "And and I will be doing it with friends and family."