UQ Challenge Powerlifting Competition –
December kicked off with the last local competition on the Powerlifting Australia calendar for Brisbane lifters being held at UQPWC at St Lucia on December 1st.
Strength Sports Gym had 7 powerlifters enter the competition, some competing for the first time, and all came away with personal best lifts on the day.
The highlight of the competition for us was Madelyn (Maddy) Harp competing in powerlifting for the very first time. After 3 months of training under coach Benji, Maddy managed to set new Australian Junior records in all 3 lifts, and the total, showing great potential in the sport. Click Here for Maddy’s record-setting total video.
Our 6 other lifters competition results and videos are listed below.
Lynden Harbour 210/145/245 – 600kg total
Nathan Olsson 190/132.5/225 – 547.5kg total
Matt Collins 175/115/220 – 510kg total
Tim Rand 165/125/220 – 510kg total
Sven Laasme 180/125/205 – 510kg total
Ryan Ferguson 150/92.5/190 – 432.5kg total
Team Nauru Return to Strength Sports Gym
For the second time in 2013, the Nauruan powerlifting team returned to train at Strength Sports Gym.
This time it was in preparation for the Commonwealth & Oceania Powerlifting Champs held in Auckland, New Zealand from the 4th-8th December.
We were fortunate enough to host and train alongside some of the top Nauruan lifters for a week across November and December.Check out the links below or subscribe to our youtube channel for some of the amazing training lifts performed at SSG.
Strength Sports Gym at the Commonwealth & Oceania Powerlifting Championship
SSG had 3 lifters that earned a spot on the Australian powerlifting team to compete in New Zealand alongside 400+ lifters from other countries in the Commonwealth & Oceania nations. Our representatives were Scott Upston (120kg M1 & Open), Chyna Howlett (52kg Jnr) and Nick Dorn (105kg Open).
Unfortunately none of the SSG team had ideal preparations in lead up to this event, Scott suffered from a glute/hamstring strain in the final stages of his training cycle, Chyna spent her week before the competition refereeing the IRB Rugby 7’s series in Dubai, whilst managing a hip injury that prevented her from squatting and deadlifting properly for over a month before the competition, and Nick managed to flare up a previous knee injury in his last heavy session and get the flu, on the day he landed in New Zealand.
Despite all that, we put our lame excuses aside and competed to the best of our ability whilst proudly wearing the green and gold.
Chyna successfully squatted 100kg on her 3rd attempt for Commonwealth & Oceania records, benched 62.5kg (6kg PB), deadlifted 110kg (10kg PB!), and totalled 272.5kg (13.5kg PB) which matched her rival from New Zealand’s total, though Chyna was relegated to 2nd place due to weighing just 700g more than the New Zealander.
Click Here for Chyna’s Lifting Video
Feeling very under the weather during the warm ups on the day of the competition, I changed my goal for the day to try to match my previous best total of 700kg from September.
I managed to replicate my previous best efforts in the squat (255kg) and bench (170kg), but didn’t have enough in me to lift my previous best of 275kg, having to settle with my opener of 250kg. I finished with a total of 675kg, and somehow managed to get 2nd place in my weight class.
Despite Scott’s less than ideal lead up to this competition, he looked on track to set a PB in the squat, though things didn’t go his way in terms of judging, finishing with his easy opener of 235kg. With a PB total out of the equation, Scott just took his opening bench of 157.5kg in order to save his energy for a run at a PB and medal in the deadlift.
Scotty successfully pulled 310kg on his 3rd attempt to claim the 2nd place medal in the deadlift, showing he had slightly more in the tank! Click Here for Scott’s Lifting Video
We had a great time in New Zealand for the Commonwealth/Oceania’s, and look forward to earning the opportunity to represent our country in powerlifting again.
Yours in strength,
Nick Dorn