Throwing the distance

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This article was published 30/03/2022 (1439 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Graham Wright never heard of weight throw until he saw it at a University of Manitoba Bisons track and field practice. And he certainly had no idea how the discipline would turn his life around.

The unique track-and-field discipline is not unlike the hammer throw, only with more than double the mass attached to a much shorter chain.

Throwers wind up and spin across a circle before hurling 35 pounds of metal as far as possible.

“With the hammer… you can manipulate it a little bit more with your arms,” said Wright, who hails from Brandon. “With weight, once you start rotating, you kind of just let it take its path and you let the weight take you across the circle.

“It pretty much manipulates you.”

Just as the weight takes control of Wright, the sport guided him from near-university dropout to U Sports academic all-Canadian. From a young man who gained 40 pounds after quitting sports to one of the strongest athletes in the country. From former Vincent Massey Vikings high school hockey and football player to national university championship qualifier.

Wright and 30 other Bisons open the USports track and field championships in Saint John, N.B., on Thursday.

“It’s pretty cool if I’m being honest,” Wright said. “When I was in high school and elementary school, especially playing hockey you think you’re going to the NHL … you don’t make it past high school. I honestly never thought when I joined track, I thought it’d be fun, I never thought I would ever go very far. I wasn’t even close to even making (Canada) West my first year, let alone nationals.

“The last month of the season I just hit my stride. Everything just started clicking and it feels really cool. I’ve been at U of M for five years, I love the school and I think it’ll be really cool to wear the name on my singlet.”

Wright was a solid 6-foot-5, 279-pound defensive lineman for the Vikings. As part of a terrific team in 2016, he received a Senior Bowl invite and hoped to land with a university football team. He left for the U of M in the fall of 2017, moving into residence.

While he wasn’t actively competing, he ate as though he was and gained 40 pounds. He also struggled in school receiving an F and three Ds his first semester. He considered quitting multiple times.

“I told myself I didn’t want to embarrass myself. I didn’t want to tell people I failed, I just wanted to drop out and say, ‘It wasn’t for me,’” Wright said.

Then his sister’s boyfriend suggested throwing.

Wright emailed Bisons head coach Claude Berube, who offered a tryout and then brought him on board. Wright’s first time picking up a shot was his first shot put practice with the Bisons. When the team brought him in, it couldn’t have known how much he needed them. “It’s an individual sport but when I joined, all the throwers… welcomed me with open arms. They knew I had no experience and they were plenty helpful, helping me out to grasp the sport and help me get into an individual sport,” Wright said.

The daily grind is intense. Wright has six two-hour throwing practices each week, plus three 90-minute sessions in the weight room. The focus is low reps, heavy weight, moving as fast as possible. He can power clean, front squat and bench press around 100 kilograms.

Balancing that with school is intense but he managed to become an academic all-Canadian, maintaining an academic average of 80 per cent or higher in 2020-21.

Moving away from home, your parents are supportive but… you go from seeing them every day to seeing them at Christmas,” Wright said. “Having that constant, every day positive attitude around the throwing cage… and obviously there were some tutors and academic advisors that were employed just to help with the track team, those helped out a lot too.”

Wright threw about 13 metres in his first year and wasn’t able to progress much with gyms closed often during 2020-21. He made massive strides this season, especially in the last few weeks. Now at 6-6 and 330 pounds, Wright finished seventh at the Bisons Classic 2.0 meet last month with a 14.75-metre weight throw and was eighth in shot put (7.26 kg) at 12.33m.

At the Canada West championship, he launched a 15.94m in the weight-throw finals to finish fourth and earn five points for Manitoba, which won its first overall men’s title since 2009. The top-12 athletes in each discipline qualify for nationals. Wright is currently ninth in weight throw.

He said he’s still figuring it out and learning every day. Wright pays a ton of credit to Bisons throwing coach Reed Rimke.

“He’s awesome. He was there my first practice and he’s been there every single practice since then. He’s definitely been the biggest reason why I’ve succeeded. He kept saying ‘Hey, there’s a big one coming,’” Wright said. “He’s been in my corner since the first time I picked up a shot or a weight and he’s just been the best. I couldn’t thank him enough. His support has meant the world.”

Rimke passes the praise right back. “It’s all about determination with him and eagerness. He was eager to come out a couple of years ago for the first time and give it a shot … and really stuck with it and I’m happy that he did,” Rimke said.

Wright is set to graduate with his phys-ed degree, three years after he nearly walked away. He rattled off three As and an A-plus last semester, putting him on track to become a two-time academic all-Canadian. But first, he’s proudly sporting school colours on the biggest stage. It’s a fitting end to his degree and a true testament to the power of sports.

“Track and field, it’s what saved me from wanting to quit university. Sports gave me a schedule, a purpose throughout the day and that helped me get my studies together because I was not doing well at all,” Wright said, adding a message for anyone struggling similarly.

“Stay the course, don’t give up. There’s better things coming, and honestly, just try your best.”

— Brandon Sun