Great Britain Powerlifting...

Hi everyone, it is Melissa again. I just got back from a weekend holiday and wanted to tell you all about it. I spent the weekend in Leamington Spa (pronounced like the fruit), which is in the middle of the country, near Birmingham. My Aunt and Uncle live there. My Uncle is a powerlifter and was competing in Milton Keynes on Saturday. I have never seen him lift but I have seen his many trophies and plaques and thought I should go and check it out.

I took the train from York on Friday and it took about 3 1/2 hours to get there. Luckily it was a direct train and so the weren't any connections. When I got on the train there were computer screens above each seat that said they were reserved! There were people sitting on the floor and standing in between the cars, it was terrible. Apparently, people book their tickets in advance and get reserved seats. And they will still sell tickets even if there are no seats availible. Craziness! My ticket was an "open return" ticket and you don't get a reserved seat with these. But luckily, I was able to find a seat that was reserved from Edinburgh to Coventry and nobody was sitting there, so I stole it.

On Saturday we had to be in Milton Keynes for 8:00am so Uncle Dennis could weigh in. That means we had to leave by 7:00am on the dot, as a carload of people were coming to the house to follow us down. Milton Keynes is a suburb of London and all the roads look the same so directions can be confusing. So we left on the dot at 7:00am and made it for the weigh in at 8:00am. The actual powerlifting didn't start until 11:00am so we were just sitting and waiting. The whole thing is pretty cool I think. Chris thinks I am insane, but oh well. Power lifting consists of 3 events: squat, bench press, and dead lift. For each event you get three attempts; if you make the first attempt then you normally go to a higher weight. If you don't make it, then you repeat the same weight. You must have at least one good lift in each event in order to continue to the next. There are three referees and they give you a white light for a good lift and a red light for a bad lift. You need a majority of white lights in order to have a good lift. The weights are measured in kilograms. Uncled Dennis is in the "Masters Four" division because he is over 70 years old. In each division there are classes which are determined by body weight. Uncle Dennis was in the 90Kilo class.

I had a job to do, of course, because Uncle Dennis can't stand for me and Aunt Helen to sit around all day. She was in charge of taking pictures of all the lifters for Uncle Dennis' "International Powerlifter" magazine, and I was the runner. What exactly is a runner, you ask? Well, the weights for the first attempts are given at weigh-in, but you have to hand in the 2nd and 3rd attempts after the previous attempt. My job was to hand in the next attempts for Uncle Dennis and his friend Brian within 1 minute after the referees marks were given after conferring with Dennis and Brian about what they wanted to lift on the next attempt. I was very nervous, but it went fine.

Are you bored yet? It is ok if you are, but here are some pictures of the three events. Note the three "costume" changes.



Uncle Dennis starting his squat



Uncle Dennis down in the squat



Uncle Dennis doing the bench press



Uncle Dennis doing the dead lift



This is Brian, Uncle Dennis' friend who is doing 197.5 kilos (435 pounds), a world record for his age and body weight!!!



Uncle Dennis did very well; all nine of his attempts were good lifts. He said that was the first time he ever did that, and I think he was the only one to do it in the whole competition. He got 26 out of a possible 27 white lights! He received a gold medal for his weight class. Go Uncle Dennis, another one to add to the collection.



On Sunday, we had my cousins over for dinner, and it is always nice to have them all over at the same time! I didn't get many pictures, just one of my cousin John's daughters, Elisabeth and Francesca, with their Mum, Helen. Francesca is the same age as my nephew Seth. They have sooo much energy. My cousin Peter and his wife Georgina are expecting a baby in August, and we are all excited for that.



Anyway, I had a nice weekend, I just got home today (Monday). I hope you are all well. Until next time,

Lots of love

Melissa