Farming roots, lifting dreams
This story starts with a flat tire and a little curiosity.
A few months ago, while biking out of La Conner, I felt the familiar drag of a flat tire. I stopped near La Conner Gardens to wait for a ride. Margy Dariotis was working the stand, and between customers, we struck up a conversation. I asked about the produce, the business, and eventually, how she came to the valley.
Within minutes, she mentioned that her husband, Chris, would be honored Sept. 4 in Las Vegas with induction into the International Weightlifting Hall of Fame.
After 15 years of masters weightlifting competition, Chris, 76, has earned enough points to place somewhere around 57th out of 35,000 competitors worldwide. He says he’s looking forward to being honored by his fellow competitors.”They know what it takes to keep going to these events and working hard to achieve something.”
Margy, too, had been a medal-winning weightlifter, trained by Chris after the two met at a Seattle meet in 2010. She described it as love at first sight.
Margy went on to become a respected competitor, winning national, Pan American, and world titles. She set numerous records, including seven individual marks at a single Pan American Championships.
Chris grew up in Seattle and discovered weightlifting at age nine, introduced by his father, a World War II veteran who had fought with the Office of Strategic Services, the precursor to the CIA. Chris excelled in football and track in high school, then attended Occidental College in Los Angeles, where he continued lifting. At 19, he traveled to Philadelphia for the teenage championships. A paperwork error kept him from competing officially, but he still outlifted the eventual winner.
“Dream big and don’t give up your dreams easily.”
Chris Dariotis
By 1970, Chris traveled to Australia to study farming. His father had moved to Greece and developed an interest in agriculture, and Chris planned to pursue a horticulture degree. His studies took him through India, the Middle East, Africa, Europe, and eventually Greece, where he worked on a family grape farm. He later enrolled at the University of British Columbia.
While there, he trained with an Olympic coach and competed in five consecutive Canadian Championships, winning all five. Afterward, he launched a landscaping business.
Chris stepped away from lifting for 23 years before returning in 2000 at the IWF Masters Championship in Florida. He went on to compete in 15 Masters World Championships, winning gold eight times, silver six times, and bronze once. Along the way, he set 25 national, Pan American, and world records.
His competitive career ended in 2014 when he tore a quadriceps tendon during a clean and jerk. Even so, he credits lifting for strengthening his back and preserving his health. Margy also points to weightlifting as a key to her strong recovery from recent hip surgery. Both of them continue to train in their home gym.
They believe weightlifting builds not just strength but resilience and discipline.
“The philosophy of resilience and effort to do your best is ingrained in the art of weightlifting,” Chris said.
Asked what life lessons he wanted to share, Chris responded:
“Dream big and don’t give up your dreams easily. You may not get to win on your first try, but there may be other opportunities in the future. Don’t ever give up.”
Travel and competition have brought the couple friends across the world, but they say La Conner is the best place on earth. Their produce farm fulfills a lifelong dream, with plans for expansion.
The greatest gift, they say, is living here — and this year’s tomato crop is strong enough to test anyone’s lifting skills.
Ultimately, Chris just really wants people to know that the guy who grows their tomatoes was also a good athlete at one point in time.
Gary L. Brown is a retired doctor who has loved photography since high school. His images capture tulip fields, farm workers, seasonal weather, migrating birds, and rural life around Skagit County and beyond.
