Beauty, Brains & Brawn

Commonwealth Games hopeful Sarah Davies is a top weightlifter but there’s a softer side to this Lancashire lass

- Roger Borrell

THINK of female weightlifters and it’s hard not to conjure up an image of large ladies of Eastern European origin cracking walnuts with their eyelids.

That’s probably why if you saw Lancashire lass Sarah Davies in the street you would never dream she would be capable of lifting something that weighs the equivalent of a Welsh dresser above her well-coiffured head.

Not only can she do that – she does it well enough to have been selected to take part in her second Commonwealth Games. During March she and her GB teammates will fly out to Australia’s Gold Coast ready for the opening ceremony on April 4 and the start of the weightlifting competition four dayslater, her mind firmly set on a medal. But what makes her really stand out from the crowd is the fact that 25-year-old Sarah is also a successful contestant in beauty pageants, proving that beauty and brute strength can go hand in hand.

She entered the Miss Leeds competition in 2012 as a dare and came away with the title and that meant she qualified for the Miss England final. While she didn’t win, it did giver her a taste for these events and she has done well in several high-profile contests.