A TEAM led by former Ulster light-welterweight champion John Lennon packed a major punch when they travelled to Poland last month for the European Kettlebell Lifting Championships – returning home with four medals.
Joining Lennon (silver) on the winners’ podium in Gdansk were fellow fitness fanatics Fionnbharr Toolan (gold), Niall Greenan (silver) and Joseph O’Donnell (bronze).
Since quitting boxing, former Dockers fighter Lennon – who represented Ireland at junior level – has turned his attentions to running the Hybrid Fitness gym in Belfast and a chance meeting with a former foe sparked his interest in the world of kettlebells.
Lennon defeated former Holy Trinity boxer Paul McIlroy in an Ulster final towards the end of the last decade, and the two went on to become good friends.
“There’s been a fair bit of joking about it since then,” says Lennon.
“Paul stopped me in the town one day and said to me about the kettlebell championships, and I decided to give it a try.
“After that a couple of other boys from different gyms around Belfast came on board with me and they’re the same ones that went and won medals.
“The likes of Paddy Gallagher, the pro boxer, does the kettlebells too and he probably would have been with us only he was fighting for a Celtic title a few weeks later.”
The team is now in training for a possible tilt at the world championships in Kazakhstan later this year.
