Bingen resident takes first place at worldwide event

BINGEN — We love our hobbies here in the Gorge ... you might even say we’re passionate about them. Skiing, kayaking, wind surfing, kite boarding, biking, fishing — the list goes on and on.

But how many of us are passionate about lifting seemingly impossible amounts of weight competitively? Probably only one: Local resident Joe Dickinson, who recently had the distinction of capturing first place in the International Power Lifting Drug Tested World Championship in Wolverhampton, England.

The 30-year-old Alaskan native was a champion high school wrestler and attended Warner Pacific University in Portland on a wrestling scholarship. It was there that he met his future wife, Regina Bell, and they settled in the Gorge and started a family.

Dickinson’s interest in staying fit and lifting weights blossomed from hobby to passion, in large part from the encouragement of his wife Regina, and he began to compete in Pacific Northwest tournaments, even setting some American records.

And, call it divine intervention or fate, he attended a powerlifting competition two years ago in Las Vegas and bumped into former college teammate Brandon Morgan. The spark ignited into a fire and Morgan coached Dickinson into the world champion he is today.

Balancing family life (he and Regina have three young children), and professional life (he is a surveyor for Bell Design in Bingen) required creative solutions, so Dickinson built power lifting racks in his house so he can train at home rather than travel to a gym.

“If you walk into our house, the first thing you see in the living room is a squat rack and weights,” he said, laughing.

So the seed was planted and grew into the World Championship, nurtured along the way for two years by diet, training, and faith. His employer, Bell Design, supported him in every way they could and his college buddy Morgan made tweaks and adjustments to his form to get him ready.

After traveling to England for the Nov. 21 championship, Dickinson went into the competition with a solid plan ... try for a world record in the squat, bench press and deadlift right out of the starting blocks. Each contest gets three attempts at each discipline and the weights are added together. The athlete with the highest cumulative score wins.

At the World Championship, Dickinson set world records in the squat at 701 pounds and the bench press at 463 pounds and, although it wasn’t a world record, he deadlifted 688.9 pounds. His cumulative score gave him the World championship, and his passion was fulfilled.

“It all just went perfect,” Dickinson said.

What’s next for the World Champion Powerlifter?

He wants to retire on top from competitive lifting and devote more time to his family.

“Powerlifting takes a ton of time and a ton of mental energy, “ he says. “I want to devote more time to the things that are more important than world records.”

Among those things are, of course, family time and the possibility of traveling with his father, Derek Dickinson, an Alaskan pastor, and speaking before youth groups on the importance of setting goals, striving to achieve them and having faith in yourself.

Dickinson spends time now, when he can, working with youth groups such as Camp Jonah and his church.