Holbeach Weight Training Club attracted eight powerhouses to their first powerlifting competition in many years on Saturday – and it proved to be a record-breaking afternoon.
Craig Candler emerged as the winner on the day ahead of Daniel Taylor and Sam Fowler in second and third places respectively, but all eight showed off their talent.
The first discipline on the day was the squat lift – and up first was Kasia Kopciewicz, the first female competitor in the club’s history.
She went on to achieve an 85kg squat on her second lift, before marginally failing her third lift of a 100kg on depth.
That represented an incredibly strong performance by a woman weighing in at only 59kg in bodyweight.
The youngest competitor in the competition was Joe Fowler. The 15-year-old put in another strong performance in the squat, breaking the club’s previous under-17 age group record which had stood for 29 years. He squatted an impressive 117.5kg at 68kg bodyweight.
As the squat continued, a rivalry between Taylor and Candler, both of whom were competing for the heaviest squat lift of the day, began.
Taylor, weighing in at 90kg, began his squat with a cautious 190kg, before his second lift of 210kg.
Meanwhile Candler, the heaviest competitor on the day at 120kg bodyweight, went slightly heavier on his first two lifts, achieving 200kg and 215kg.
For their third and final squats both men opted to attempt 227.5kg (a landmark in any strength sport of going over 500lbs).
Amazingly, three white lights from the judges for both men saw them finish the competition with a successful 227.5kg squat lift.
The second discipline, the bench press, once again produced more fantastic performances.
Candler again delivered the biggest lift, with a bench press of 162.5kg, before narrowing failing at 170kg.
Other impressive performances came from Tom Bell and Lindon Wise.
Weighing in at 94kg, Wise finished with 130kg, while Bell – competing at 100kg in bodyweight – easily pressed his second lift of 140kg, before failing his third lift at 150kg.
Other lifts saw Fowler press 80kg, just missing out on breaking another 29-year-old record.
The older Fowler brother, Sam, continued to produce impressive strength, pressing 92.5kg on his third lift.
The final event – and the last chance for all competitors to get themselves into the top three – was the deadlift.
Kopciewicz once again delivered a strong effort, pulling 105kg, while Joe Fowler pulled 155kg to break another long-standing under-17 record. Wise also managed 180kg, which was bettered by Bell’s 200kg.
Sam Fowler pulled the third biggest deadlift of the day with an impressive 210kg, while Taylor went one heavier at 230kg. Both were impressive lifts, taking into account their respective bodyweights.
The heaviest lift of the day went to Candler, who pulled an enormous 300kg on his second deadlift, while just failing his third lift of 320kg, which would have seen him go over the 700lb barrier.
The top three was decided using Wilks formula, which generates a score based on total weight lifted with the bodyweight of the individual.
Even that couldn’t deny the impressive Candler, though.
