There seems no end to Ashley’s inspiring determination and ability. Last year saw Ashley achieve his childhood dream to become an Olympian in Beijing as a member of Jamaica’s first 4-man bobsled team in 24 years.
Since then, Ashley has turned his attention and energy into powerlifting training and has been selected for Team GB at the 2023 World Bench Press Championships in South Africa.
He says: “I got into powerlifting as I love the gym side of training from my athletics and bobsleigh days. I like to have a goal to work towards and in powerlifting, it's simple to track your progress. If you lift a heavier weight then you're stronger.”
Ashley had previously competed in team sports such as football, cricket, and bobsleigh. Even his athletics success was in the relay winning a national bronze at the English Schools Championships. So, after the Olympics, Ashley wanted to compete in an individual sport on the international stage and “to do something hard before turning 30 years old!”
On March 4th 2023, Ashley competed in and won the British Bench Press Championships. Ashley was then selected to represent Team Great Britain at the upcoming World Bench Press Championships in Sun City, South Africa this May. He joins other amazing athletes who have also been selected to compete for Team GB at this championship as part of the Alpha Core International Bench Team.
Ashley’s coach offered to help prepare him for the National and World Championships after seeing his powerlifting potential as he won the Anglian Championships. His coach has other athletes who competed at this level in 2022 and they will accompany Ashley to the World Championships.
When Ashley talks about his current training regime for powerlifting, he says: “This is very different to bobsleigh training. All I need is a well-equipped gym as opposed to doing lots of sprint sessions and pushing things! I am now bench pressing three to four times a week. This involves heavy and submaximal lifts as well as building muscle in the right places to enhance my bench press. I’m also doing a lot of squats and deadlifts in preparation for full power competitions that include squats, bench presses and deadlifts in the same competition. My program is aimed so that I peak on the day of the competition, 24th May.”
Dedicated to getting the best from his training sessions, Ashley says " My life consists of work, training and resting! I try to get social time in with friends and family to find a balance but I'm sacrificing a lot! I also have no processed food, no alcohol and a lot of recovery sessions.”
To compete as part of the GB powerlifting team at the World Bench Press Championships, Ashley must pay for his flight, accommodation, food, kit, entry to the competition and anything else. He is fundraising to help pay for these expenses. Ashley’s fundraising page is here. He is enormously grateful for any contribution to support him.
Ashley joined Fitzwilliam Hospital in February 2022 as a physiotherapist. He helps patients affected by injury, illness or disability by way of advice, movement and exercise, and manual therapy. Ashley finds being able to assist people to recover or reduce their pain through physiotherapy and without medication to be particularly rewarding. His physiotherapy knowledge supports his own training too.