2015 Masters Weightlifting Championships - Competition Recap

The 2015 Masters Weightlifting National Championships - until this year, I didn't even know such a thing existed. Coming into this sport as a rather mature (in age, not personality) athlete, I expected that the only person that I would be competing with would be myself. The high-caliber Canadian athletes who compete on national and international platforms are often under the age of thirty and have significantly more time under a barbell than I. In fact, I was completely amazed by a junior competition (under 18) in 69 kg weight class who out lifted me by approximately 30 kg last year. She was lucky enough to be born with a barbell in her hand.

However, my teammates and I have come to discover that it's not all over once you become "over the hill".

Guelph Barbell Club set out on the road for Rouyn-Noranda, in north western Quebec. After nearly a six hour drive, we arrived in the home-town of Canadian weightlifting champion Christine Girard. A relatively small town with a strong history of weightlifting. We checked into the hotel, jumped on the scale to ensure our weight was good and settled in to prepare for competition.

Saturday morning, we headed out to the venue. Dawn was up first and made weight for the 69 kg weight class with ease. She was a little rattled as coach Adrian tried to get her warmed up and focused for the competition. Dawn had a little bit of humming bird in her that day, she couldn't stop moving. At one point, coach actually had to make her sit in a chair to keep her in one place. It was the funniest thing I have seen yet at a competition. Dawn opened with a 22 kg snatch. Her goal was to hit 27 kg on her final lift, but unfortunately, she missed both snatch #2 & #3. Dawn had a rough start to the day but coach was able to get her settled and refocused for clean & jerk. After a quick break, Dawn came back out on the platform for the C&J. She was able to hit both her opening lift and C&J #2, tying her previous PR. Although she wasn't completely happy with her performance, Dawn earned a national gold medal!

Marcy (also known as ass. coach) was up next. I have never been able to match my training PRs in competition and I have never been able to hit 6 out of 6 lifts. The goal at this competition was to do both. Making the 75 kg weight class for this competition was easy. I opened the competition with a 59 kg snatch and then moved up to 62 kg (to avoid my goat!). For my final lift, I hit 64 kg which is both a competition PR and an all-time PR. After a quick break, I got ready for the C&J and opened at 77 kg. Coach Adrian decided to jump up to 81 kg, and I successfully completed my second lift. Pumped, I told coach that he could decide the weight of my final lift. When I heard the words "84 kilograms on the bar", I'm not going to lie, I might have shit my pants a little. I walked out on the platform, took a deep breath and ripped the bar off the floor. Unfortunately, I didn't finish my pull and missed my attempt at 84 kg. In all, hit 5 out of 6 lifts, hit a new snatch PR, tied my previous C&J PR and finished with a 145 kg total.

Competing in the final session of the day was Jadon in the 105 kg division. At a recent lifting seminar, Jadon hit a number of PRs which he had not yet tested out in competition. Jason hit a 80 kg snatch on his opening lift - and made it look EASY. So coach decided to bump it up to 87 kg for snatch #2. Lifting like an animal, Jadon hit 92 kg for his final snatch - hitting a new competition PR. Heading into the C&J, Jadon opened with a 100 kg lift. He jumped up to 105 kg for C&J #2, which he just missed because of his night-time career as a stripper. He came back for a third attempt, and hit 105 kg. Jason hit 2 competition PRs, and set a new total of 197 kg.

By the end of the competition, Adrian was exhausted from coaching all day and Guelph Barbell Club finished with 3 National titles! After a celebratory dinner, a bottle of scotch and some Quebec poutine, we were ready to head home. Until next time, we will continue to lift all the things!