The Sudbury Weightlifting Club continues to excel on both a provincial and national level, undoubtedly bringing a smile down from the heavens courtesy of a man who was likely the most influential local man in the sport for decades on end.

Bronwyn Lee shattered her previous personal bests, establishing a new total lifts mark (139kg - clean & jerk - 81kg; snatch - 58kg) that propelled her to a silver medal at the recent Ontario Masters Championships hosted by Variety Village Weightlifting Club in Scarborough - ironically on the very same day that Sudbury native and Olympian (1968 - Mexico City) Aldo Roy would pass at the age of 84.

Lee, a 37 year-old who was born in Cobourg but moved to Sudbury some 14 years ago or so, was feeling generally pretty confident heading into the competition as she worked out a week or two before the event.

"It's just remembering my training and hearing Alex (coach Alex Fera) in my head, staying focused in general," said Lee. "It's knowing that I have done it in the past (in practice); I can do it again."

Now five years into her journey with the Sudbury Weightlifting Club, the former instructor at Goodlife Fitness is zeroed in on the kinds of details that make all the difference between judges greeting your lift with a green light versus red.

"When the weights get heavy, I start to rebound with my elbows which will get caught by the judges every time," Lee noted. "It's learning how to snap your arms and not get a rebound. It's just focusing on it (the form) all the way through, until you get to the heavier weights - and then just remembering that you can do it."

Bronwyn Lee has already reached the standards required for her to make a repeat appearance at the Canadian Masters Championships, having competed last year in Calgary and now making her way to Midland on the weekend of June 19th to 21st.

At the other end of the spectrum, 14 year-old Alexi Moulton will take part in the Canadian Jr Championships for the first time in early June (5th - 7th) in Chambly (PQ), having shown well against competitors two years his elder at the 2026 Ontario Winter Games.

Moulton, who trains alongside older brother Samuel, first picked up the weights some two years ago, quickly learning the importance of proper stretching and spending a great deal of time with lighter weights, concentrating solely on proper form.

Competition did not come for a full year or so later and unlike most, Alexi Moulton was not one to get thrown off in a setting that gathers the young athletes together in close proximity.

"It was a lot more relaxed than I thought it would be," noted the grade nine student at Ecole Secondaire Macdonald-Cartier. "After the weigh-in, you've got about an hour to relax, talk to other lifters. Then you start practicing."

"You've got about 30 minutes or so to get ready for your lift."

Part of the comfort he enjoys in matching up against his lifting brethren stems from a refreshingly pragmatic view of what some see as an "all or nothing setting". "If I get a record, I get a record," he said.

"If not, I still get to compete against other people."

And while Moulton knows that at least some nerves are likely to kick in at junior nationals, his focus will lie on the proper execution of everything he has learned at the Sparkes Street venue the group shares with T2 Training Systems.

"At nationals, they will be very strict with the form," he said. "I am working on my form as much as possible."

The mere fact that Lee and the Moulton siblings even have the opportunity to pursue Olympic lifting dreams dates back to 1956 or so, when Aldo Roy and lifting friends Robert Leclair, Murray Veno and brother Ralph Roy first established the Sudbury Weightlifting Club.

Inducted into the Sudbury Sports Hall of Fame in 1959, Aldo Roy was the British Empire record holder a couple of years later, competing successfully at the Canadian Championships (including in 1962 when the competition was hosted in Sudbury) and named as the official flag bearer for Team Canada at the closing ceremonies of the 1968 Olympics.

A teacher and future department head, Aldo Roy would make his way to Ottawa where he would spend the bulk of his adult life, still very involved in weightlifting and sharing stories with all those who enjoyed his company.