Many farmers are naturally strong, well used to lifting bags of feed, pulling heavy gates and hauling bales of hay.

Most people would call that enough, but not 11-year-old Rhona Stafford. When the work is done on the 100ha farm in Monasterevin, Co Kildare – which is beef, sheep and tillage – Rhona pulls out her kettlebells and gets lifting.

Rhona started lifting kettlebells at the age of five and she now competes on the national Ireland team with 12kg weights.

Irish Country Living visits Rhona on the family farm just after she has returned from Majorca where she competed in part 1 of the International Kettlebell Marathon Federation World Championships. Rhona returned a world champion for her age category (10-12 years)and holds the world record in double pentathlon.

“That’s lifting two [6kg] bells at the one time or one 12kg bell [depending on the lift],” Rhona explains. “There are five different lifts within the competition. Each lift is done for three minutes, and then you do a three-minute rest, and then the next lift, and it goes on to the finish.” The athletes are marked on the number of reps, weight, and technique.

Relatively new sport

Kettlebell lifting is a weight lifting sport and it is fairly new in Ireland. However, the sport is growing, with two kettlebell associations across the island: the Association of Kettlebell Sport Ireland (who Rhona and the rest of her family lift with) and the All Ireland Kettlebell Lifting Federation.

Rhona is a girl who keeps a busy schedule. Along with kettlebells, she also plays Gaelic football and soccer and does horse riding.

“I have kettlebells on Monday, Gaelic football on Tuesday, soccer on Wednesday, horse riding from five to six o’clock and kettlebells from seven to eight o’clock on Thursday. I have Gaelic football on Friday and matches for football and soccer on Saturday and Sunday.”

Kettlebells are a full family affair in the Stafford household. Rhona trains with her mum, Geraldine, in Monasterevin Kettlebell Club. “Mum teaches our class and we do circuits and lifting,” says Rhona. “When we’re six or seven weeks out from a competition, we concentrate on the competition lift. At other times, we would do very different lifts and some kind of strength work.”

Rhona with her sheep. \ Claire Nash

Rhona shows Irish Country Living around her home gym where she trains. The family converted their garage into a gym over two years ago and it stores dozens of kettlebells, ranging from 2kg (the weight Rhona would have lifted aged five) up to 32kg.

Rhona and her family have been all over Ireland and the rest of the world with kettlebells. “I’ve been to Hungary, Belgium, Poland, Spain, Denmark, Portugal and Sweden,” says Rhona. “I’ve been to way more places, I just don’t remember them.”

“It is hard to lift when it’s really hot, like in Majorca,” she continues. “They had these huge floor fans, because we were all dying of heat challenge.”

Rhona likes ‘the travelling part’ of kettlebells, because it allows her to see new places and make friends. “I have three friends – one from England, one from America, and one from France – and we all write to each other,” Rhona says. “In my age group, I’m now competing against my older cousin. I love competing because we’re both so competitive with each other.”

Kettlebells and farming

The family have to balance their love for kettlebells with their duties on the farm. For instance, part 2 of the International Kettlebell Marathon Federation World Championships will take place this November, but the family are not sure if they’ll make it to compete as they’ll be buying calves.

When asked how kettlebells relate to farming, Rhona replies: “It gives you strength and endurance and helps to build like character.”

“Sometimes, I might go up to the farm a little bit before school. If we are lambing, we’ll go up before and after school. But normally I’m up on a Saturday and Sunday. I help out mostly with the sheep,” she says. “Catching the lambs, dosing sheep, helping with the dividing gates and at the moment, I’m also painting the shed.”

“I like farming mostly because I like working with my grandad so I can convince him to give me a field to put a horse in it,” Rhona jokes. “I’m saving very hard [to buy one].”

With school finishing up for summer, Rhona will be on the farm every day. Of course, she will also be training and her sights are set on kettlebell competitions in Scotland and the United States in 2026.

Somehow, between school, lifting and helping out on the farm, Rhona manages to juggle it all.

She is very much in full swing.