Trail Woman Captures Three Medals at BC Bodybuilding Championships

A 61-year-old woman from Trail has overcome considerable adversity to bring home three medals from the Provincial Body Building Championships.

Cheryl Brown Hutchinson beat an over two year battle from a septic staff infection following knee surgery.

“My fantastic Orthopedic Surgeon Dr. Bidding pretty much saved my life,” said Cheryl during her interview on the Bounce Radio morning show with Wayne Kelly.

“He gave me a new knee last February, on Valentine’s Day and you know what, I said I’m going to finish what I started and my goal was to do a competition at age 60,” she added, but said it was a long road back from a knee scope that started to go wrong about four days after the procedure.

“Which put me off work for over six months, at one point I thought my leg was coming off, but we got through that and then I went another year and the infection just totally ate away my knee,” Cheryl explained.

Once healthy enough to resume training six months later, Cheryl put herself through a regimen that included a heavy weight training schedule, cardio workouts and a 1,100 calorie-a-day diet.

“It was hard, but you know, you work through things and I modified and I went up and I got up on that stage,” said Cheryl, who was surprised by the reaction of the judge’s.

“I got two silvers and a bronze, in the age 35, 45, 55 and the open (category), I placed in three categories and I was pretty darned happy because I went with expectations of just going.”     

Cheryl’s quest for a healthier lifestyle has been a 16 year journey.

“I was 220 lbs, I had probably about 20 surgeries, I was on ten medications and I was sick,” she said, and then got sick and tired of being sick and tired.

“My daughter got me into the gym and it just carried on from there and about five years later I decided, you know what, I want to do a bodybuilding competition,”

Cheryl described her first event at age 54 as terrifying, but was boosted by a third place finish.

“I went to the B-C provincials and it just carried on from there, I ended up going to nationals, picked up a few trophies here and there and my love for it (bodybuilding) was just born.”

The triple-medal performance at provincials has qualified Cheryl for a professional event this coming Nov.