As a Masters bodybuilder, Cory Holly has been Mr. Canada, Mr. Universe, Mr. Olympia and Mr. Hawaii.
The 58-year-old self-described gym rat says bodybuilding is a hobby. His true love these days, however, is the hammer throw.
Holly tosses the 16-pound weight around like it’s a cell phone, and struck gold at the recent inaugural Americas Masters Games in Vancouver with a throw of 41.19 metres.
Focus is on speed and the throwing motion involves about two swings from a stationary position, then three or four rotations of the body in a circular motion using a complicated heel-toe movement of the foot.
“You can’t get the speed without the proper footwork; it’s all about the footwork and I really have to work on that because I’m not a good dancer,” joked Holly, a father of three who attended Burnaby Central High.
“My hammer coach in high school was Ken Taylor. I tried all the other events and I was attracted more to the hammer because you spin it around like a Roman gladiator and you feel mesmerized when you’re spinning.”
A naturopath who has written 10 books on nutrition and athletics, the 6-foot, 220-pound Holly went to Western Washington in Bellingham on a football scholarship. He was also on the Vikings track and wrestling teams.
Both Holly and discus gold-medalist Hedley Larsen, also of Vernon, said the Games were spectacular, with goodwill and good sportsmanship evident throughout. There were 10,000 athletes in 24 sports.
The Calgary-born Holly hopes to break his personal best toss of 42.29 at the 55+ BC Games next week in Coquitlam. He urges people to use the Greater Vernon Athletics Park adjacent to the Okanagan College Kalamalka campus.
“The new track has opened up a great new potential for hammer throwing in Vernon, as the absence of a hammer cage has been the limit for the sport in Vernon until now,” he said. “It’s a wonderful asset and a first-class facility. It was the new track and specifically the hammer cage that provided the incentive for me to train for hammer competition this year as a Masters athlete.”
He hopes to create a throwers club next year and join Larsen, who trains discus throwers with the Vernon Triple A Club.
Larsen, also born in Calgary, recorded a discus throw of 37.19 metres, taking gold by a metre. His personal best of 38.93 came last year at the B.C. Masters in Langley.
Athletes get six throws in discus and the longest measured toss is counted. The discus event was held at Thunderbird Stadium.
“My heel grazed the top of the ring on what I thought was going to be my best throw and the official asked me if I touched the ring so I got red flagged on that throw.”
Larsen excelled in high school discus with the Bishop Carroll Cardinals in Calgary and qualified for the 1985 Canada Games in New Brunswick by striking gold in the Alberta Games. The 51-year-old father of three was fourth in a field of 20 in Saint John.
He was pretty much ordered to try discus by his Grade 7 teacher.
“I had a coach named Rennie Harrison who was a former CFLer,” said Larsen. “He was a monster of a man and he told the class he was the new throws coach and he wanted a few guys to throw the discus and shot put. He looked at the big guys and said ‘You guys will be throwing today at lunch.’ We looked at him and said ‘Ok Mr. Harrison.’ It was a lot of fun.”
Larsen, who was a guard as a junior high football player and later switched to fullback in his Grade 12 year, was the city discus champion every year.
“He was a great coach because he was a thrower. Here was a guy who had throws of 50 metres plus. He took us to Track City for national events in Oregon and all over the place.”
A 5-foot-10, 235-pound power forward/d-man in hockey, Larsen has coached minor hockey for several years, earning the Senior Coach of the Year once while running two teams. He has been a broker with Capri Insurance for 15 years.