A woman from Campbellville, Ont. has earned a place in the record books after an international display of strength. “I was the 22nd woman all time to lift the historic Dinnie Stones in Scotland. They weigh 733 lbs combined,” Laurie MacDougall Sookraj told CTV News. The 43-year-old now lives in Campbellville, but she is originally from Toronto. She travelled to Scotland to perform the impressive feat on Aug. 1 and became the first Canadian woman to successfully tackle the challenge. The Dinnie Stones were once used as counterweights during bridge work, but they have come to represent a test of strength. The larger stone weights 414.5 lbs, while the other comes in at 318.5 lbs. “So, it’s about four and a half times my own body weight,” MacDougall Sookraj said. “So, it’s pretty heavy.” Training for the lift MacDougall Sookraj began training for the attempt about a year ago. Twice a week she used specific equipment to mimic the lift, gaining confidence with every rep. “I saw that there weren’t any women from Canada who had done it so far. All year I’ve been like, ‘OK, if nobody beats me to it, I’m going to be the first,’” she said. “Then, in July, I was talking to Stevie Shanks, who organizes the lifts. He was like, ‘OK, that’s it. Nobody else is getting in before you get in. So, you’re going to be the first.’” In February, MacDougall Sookraj managed to lift the necessary weight during her at-home training sessions. “When I went [to Scotland], I already believed I could do it,” she said. She had a coach, Dain Wallis, helping her along the way. “That’s a whole new beast. It’s just two giant rocks that you have to pick up,” Wallis explained. “It’s very skill specific and if you’re not training that specific skill, it’s going to be hard to just walk up to them and do them, regardless of how strong you are.” MacDougall Sookraj and Wallis worked together to find a way to mirror what the lift would feel like. “This was well planned. She knew almost a year in advance,” Wallis said. “We put the plan in place and she executed it. It was amazing to see.” The weight of history When MacDougall Sookraj lined up for her attempt, she used lifting straps. “If you do it bare hands, then that is an unassisted lift. If you do it with straps, it’s called assisted,” she explained. “For women, they let us use the straps because it’s really, really heavy. For men, they ask you to do it without straps.” Her first attempt did not go the way she had hoped, but she didn’t give up. “I went a little bit too wide with my stance and because I’m short, I didn’t clear the ground with them” She reset her stance and tried again. “I had to re-setup, go a little bit narrower so I would have more height. My second pull was good. I got a thumbs up from the judges,” she recalled. Doing the heavy lifting MacDougall Sookraj is a software developer working in healthcare IT. She lifts in her garage on evenings and weekends about three days a week and has been competing in strongman competitions since 2016. When she first started her weightlifting journey in 2014, she found solace in the sound of a flipping tractor tire. “You pick it up off the ground and you flip it over and it goes, ‘thunk.’ And that thunk sounds like – it feels so good when you put something down and it goes ‘thunk.’ That’s what I like, that’s why I like to do it,” she said. “I’ve pulled a truck, like a big Mack truck. I have walked inside a car, the shell of a car. You pick it up and you walk with it. I’ve deadlifted all kinds of things. I have pulled trucks arm-over-arm and with a harness. I’ve done Atlas stones up to 220 lbs,” she said. “There’s always more in the tank” “Laurie loves strong, she just loves strength endeavors. It’s a huge part of her life,” Wallis said. “The Dinnies are just kind of the next step. Why wouldn’t you do them at this point?” While she has already hefted her most recent goal, she is planning to head back to the U.K. to continue lifting historic stones when she can. “I will try to lift other things. I haven’t decided yet what my next big goal is going to be. So right now, I’m just kind of chilling. But we’ll see. We’ll see where life goes,” MacDougall Sookraj said. “To watch her progression from where she started, just kind of doing local competitions, just something she really enjoyed, to going to the Arnold World Championships and then becoming a pro lightweight strongwoman and then doing the Dinnie Stones. There’s always more in the tank. She loves it so much. It’s such a tight knit community and a big part of her life that even if there’s something that she doesn’t really know about yet, if she hears about it. She’s immediately going to be like, ‘I’m going to do that next.’” Wallis said. MacDougall Sookraj said she’s sure others will complete the feat soon, but she’ll always be the first Canadian woman that’s lifted the Dinnie Stones. “It feels pretty cool. I know that I’m not going to be the last. I’m the first.” MacDougall Sookraj said
