Competition Recap - 2016 Mistletoe Classic

cr: @shannysteele (Instagram)

It's that time of year again for the annual Mistletoe Classic! This competition is sanctioned by the Ontario Weightlifting Association and is hosted at Kanama High Performance in Scarborough. While a relatively small competition, the caliber of lifting is great and this event is an opportunity for new lifters to get a feel for the competitive environment.

This year, Guelph Barbell Club had two new lifters join who were interested in trying a weightlifting competition. The biggest challenge for new lifters on the competition platform is often figuring out how to prepare for a lift and how to remain focused in an environment where everyone is watching you - especially judges who sit only a few meters away from the lifting platform.

Aaron joined Guelph Barbell Club after trying powerlifting. While powerlifting was fun and was making him stronger, he decided that Olympic weightlifting might offer a greater technical challenge. Aaron started watching lifting videos online and tried to tech himself how to snatch and clean & jerk with no direction other than coaches on YouTube! In all honesty, his approach worked pretty well and he had a decent foundation to work with when he joined Guelph Barbell.

Aaron competed in the 85 kg weight class. It might have been nerves, or it might have just been a bad lift, but he missed is opening snatch at 79 kg. After refocusing, Aaron returned to the platform and made that 79 kg lift look easy! Even though Aaron's third attempt at 83 kg looked like it was going up, at the last minute it was dropped and he finished the snatch portion of the competition and was credited with 79 kg.

Aaron was pumped for the C&J part of the competition as this is his better lift. He hit his opening lift with ease at 104 kg. For the second lift, he nailed 107 kg. Aaron attempted a 111 kg third attempt, which would have been a new PR, but narrowly missed it. Pretty sure that with a few adjustments, 111 kg is just around the corner. Aaron finished the competition with a bronze place finish and a total of 186 kg.


Up next was Syd who joined Guelph Barbell after being introduced to Olympic weightlifting through CrossFit. When Syd came to the club she was already pretty strong and driven to improve, but needed some technical work. The kind of thing you just don't get when you are in the CrossFit environment and everything is programmed "for time".

Syd was competing in the 75+ kg weight class. The snatch has always been Syd's better lift, so she was able to hit her opening lift at 63 kg with ease. She followed that up with an easy 65 kg for her second attempt. A PR attempt at 69 kg was narrowly missed, but Syd was off to a great start in this competition.

Next came the C&J. Syd progressed well through the warmup and made her opening attempt at 72 kg look easy. So we bumped her up to 76 kg for attempt number 2. Unfortunately, the bar path on the jerk just got slightly out in front of her which resulted in a missed lift. To give her a little bit more time to rest in between attempts, we bumped her 3rd and final attempt up to 77 kg. A little bit of core instability in the clean resulted in another missed C&J. This is a weight that I know Syd can make, and she will make this easily at the next competition!! Sad finished the competition with a gold medal and a total of 137 kg.

Despite the poor weather and slow start due to late arrivals, overall this was a fantastic competition. There was some great lifting and it's a great place to be a spectator. For Guelph Barbell Club, two new members had a great start to competitive weightlifting. Both Aaron and Syd finished the competition making 3/6 lifts, both finished with official OWA totals and medaled in their respective weight classes. Looking forward to seeing what is next for these lifters!