Disabled strongman wants to 'break barriers'

"I'm in a very male dominated sport, so I just want to show women that you can break these barriers."

Erin Harris, from Woodley, in Berkshire, joined her local gym three years ago just to "lose a few pounds" ahead of her wedding.

Fast forward to 2024, and she has just been crowned the World's Strongest Disabled Woman.

Ms Harris was born with congenital dysplasia, a condition that means she has one arm shorter than the other.

"My husband joined with me and he showed me how to walk into the weights room and what to do - the basics really," she told the BBC of her start in the gym.

"About six months into my gym journey I was looking around and realising that I was matching the weights of the men in the room and how actually I'm a little bit stronger than the average woman."

"But everything I did was one-handed and actually I thought I wouldn't get far."

After uploading a video of her lifting an axle bar onto TikTok, Ms Harris received a message from the two time World's Strongest Disabled Man, Mark Tanner.

"He messaged me saying 'you don't know me, but you need to compete' - and that was where my journey started."

Ms Harris said she "fell in love" with the sport, and won her first competition in May 2023 - becoming England's Strongest Woman.

Having since claimed that title, as well as that of Britain's strongest, two years in a row - Ms Harris completed her own grand slam at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham on Sunday - where she became the World's Strongest Disabled Woman.

"It's absolutely brutal, but we do it because we love it," she said.

Alongside claiming "bragging rights", she said she hoped she had become a role model for young disabled girls.

"When I was growing up there wasn't really anyone that looked like me, there wasn't anyone around with a little arm like mine so I hid my arm for quite a lot of my life and it wasn't until I started competing that I grew to accept myself."

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