The Otago Area Powerlifting Championship was held at the Olympic Gym in Mosgiel on Saturday May 3. OAWLA had a great turnout, with over 40 entries combined between the Olympic Lifting and two flights of Powerlifting competitors. Olympic lifting started very early, with a 6 am weigh in. Kiara and I did not get there until about 8 am for my weigh-in and gear check for the first (lighter weight classes and Junior division) flight of powerlifting.
I was somewhat worried about making my weight class, 82.5 kilograms, but should not have been worried. I weighed in at 80.2 kilos, just over 177 pounds. Lifting started at 9:30 am for the first flight, which consisted of about 12 lifters. I lifted later in the flight, so I had plenty of time to over analyze my lifts before I had actually done anything!
Overall, I was relatively happy with the way my lifts turned out, with the exception of my squat and bench. :)
Squat-I opened too low due to a lack of confidence, and had to take too big of a jump from my second to third attempt. Adding over 50 lbs in one increment did me in!
First Attempt:150kg/330.5 lbs
Second Attempt:160kg/352.5 lbs
Third Attempt:185kg/408lbs scratched
Bench-My second attempt was a new personal meet legal bench for me. I had done a little more in the gym three weeks earlier, but the presence of three judges watching your every move seems to make everything just a little bit harder.
First Attempt:120 kg/264.5 lbs
Second Attempt:135 kg/297.5 lbs
Third Attempt:140 kg/308.5lbs scratched
Deadlift-Deadlift is not typically my best lift, but it sure went well at this meet!
First Attempt:180kg/396.5 (This came up so fast that Kiara cut my head off in the picture!)
Second Attempt: 205 kg/452 lbs
Third Attempt: 225 kg/496 lbs
After I was done lifting, there was a 90 minute break before the next flight started. (Just enough time to stiffen up!) I spotted and loaded, which turned out to be a lot of work (as usual) due to the amount of weight the bigger guys (and girls!) were moving. I had helped out at the meet about 5 weeks earlier, so it was fun to see the same guys lift again. The highlight lifter was Steve Varga, one of the best powerlifters in New Zealand and getting there in the world. Steve is a great guy, willing to give lots of pointers and help out younger lifters. He even gave me a ride home from the last meet. For perspective, Steve, who weighed in at 108 kilograms, squatted 320 kilograms, benched 200 kilograms, and dead lifted 312.5 kilograms for an impressive total of 832.5 kilos/1835.5 lbs!
At about 7:30pm, OAWLA held a nice awards banquet complete with an all you can eat buffet! Even Kiara found a lot to eat.
A big thanks to Kiara for putting up with a somewhat uninteresting sport for the entire day!
Caleb
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