AUGUSTA — Chele Fuller was a cheerleader and played softball in high school, but she’d always believed deep down the old saw about girls being made of sugar and spice.

“I wish somewhere along the line someone had said it’s okay to be strong. It’s okay that you like to do things with your strength,” she said.

Seven weeks ago, Fuller decided to enter an Augusta strongman competition and started training for the grueling event with friends at GEvolution Fitness, an Augusta fitness club. Even then, she couldn’t shake the stereotypes.

“One of the first times that I trained, I apologized. I said, ‘Sorry,’ because I lifted up something too strong,” said Fuller, a 40-year-old mother of three sons. “I was, like, wait a minute. Why should I have to apologize for the woman that I am, the strength that I have?'”

Fuller was among about three dozen contestants, more than half of them women, celebrating strength at the Augusta Armory at Saturday’s Central Maine Strongman.

The competition, which raised money for Kennebec Canons Youth Lacrosse, consisted of five different events testing contestants’ strength in virtually every way imaginable. Participants were divided by weight class and experience level, and for the first time in the show’s history, the women outnumbered the men.

For the first four years of Central Maine Strongman, the only women in the building were spectators, according to organizer Dana Geneseo, of Augusta. But interest in the event and others like it has exploded recently.

“For some reason, women in the area have really taken an interest in it. All over New England, there are more and more women entering strongman competitions,” Geneseo said. “The women are usually surprised by how much weight they can move.”

One of the first women to compete was Holly MacKenzie, of Oakland, a three-time participant and two-time champion in the women’s open division. When she entered her first Central Maine Strongman in 2012, there were “three or four of us” competing. Last year, the event added the women’s novice class for the first time, and this year, many of those women encouraged their friends and workout partners to enter.

“You get one woman that does it and if they have any sort of influence at a gym or they teach classes, it moves throughout the crowd,” said MacKenzie, who served as a judge for this year’s event. “Once you’re here, it’s a combination of the people and just the thrill of seeing what you’re capable of that gets you hooked.”

Fuller was one of four women from GEvolution to enter this year’s competition, including co-owner Gina LoMonaco, Melissa Doody and Jill Rancourt. LoMonaco, who had competed in a smaller strongman contest earlier this year, entered the women’s open division, while the other three competed for the first time as novices.

Rancourt, of Belgrade Lakes, entered her first strongman competition with her boyfriend, Jeff Merkins,

“I only had about five weeks to get ready for it, and the first week I had an injury, so I really played catch-up,” she said. “It’s been a great sense of camaraderie. A lot of people who have competed are passing on great tips and have been really supportive. It’s been great.”

Competitors tried to complete a wide variety of lifts throughout the day, including a press medley involving a steel log, axle, keg, half Atlas stone and Conan’s wheel; a deadlift medley involving bars, axles and farmers handles; and a carry medley using farmers handles, a keg and sand bag.

Angela Parady, of Augusta briefly lost her balance while carrying the 85-pound keg 50 feet and stumbled across the finish line.

“I thought I was going to bite it,” she said.

Nevertheless, Parady, a staff sergeant in the Army National Guard competing in her second Central Maine Strongman, feels empowered by the competition.

“There are a lot things that most women aren’t expected to do,” she said. “You walk away from here at the end of the day and you just feel kind of badass.”

“It’s supported. We believe in ourselves and we believe in being powerful. And it feels great,” LoMonaco said. “I think when women involve themselves in strength events, that translates into a confidence in life, where you can come up against any decision, but you feel powerful and confident in it. And you’ll excel.”

Like the rest of the competitors, LoMonaco ended the day with the most back-breaking event involving the Atlas stone. Contenders had to load the concrete sphere onto a raised platform at progressively higher heights, with the weight of the stone increased after they reached the top of platform. For the final round in the women’s open, the stone weighed 215 pounds.

“The adrenaline kicks in and exhaustion … it’s not even on your radar,” said LoMonaco, a former bodybuilder and Big East champion discus thrower at St. John’s University. “You just keep going.”

Perseverance paid off with the bulky stone, and it could also keep the women who are just starting to pick up strongmen competitions to come back for more in the future.

“Women are just starting to feel more comfortable getting into this arena,” Parady said. “I mean, we’ve got Holly MacKenzie, who’s an awesome example of what this can do for people. I don’t see women being scared off from this anymore.”

Randy Whitehouse — 621-5638

rwhitehouse@mainetoday.com

Twitter: @RAWmaterial33

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