Competition Recap - Toronto Weightlifting Championships

One year has passed since Guelph Barbell Club’s first appearance at a weightlifting event sanctioned by the Ontario Weightlifting Association (OWA), and what a year it has been.

GBC’s first competition experience was at the 2014 Toronto Pro Show, competing at the Toronto Weightlifting Championships (TWC). Although still relatively inexperienced in this sport, we knew even less in 2014! Both GCB competitors, Jadon & Marcy completely bombed out at the 2014 TWC.  Neither athlete managed to post a total score at this event as both completely missed all of their attempts at the clean & jerk.

Wide variety of strength events at the 2015 Toronto Pro Show

One year later, they both decided to register for the 2015 TWC, even though only 6 weeks separated the TWC & Masters Nationals (April 2015). For the Nationals, Coach Adrian prepared them well and programmed a long cycle to help them peak for the event. The approach was golden as both GBC members set new personal records and won national titles in the Masters division. After Nationals, there was rest, recovery and not enough time to peak for another event. Regardless, both felt like they had something to prove and wanted to put up a total at the Pro Show, one of the most interesting fitness events that Toronto has to offer.

The Toronto Pro show is a unique event which brings together all manner of strength sports (weightlifting, powerlifting, strong man) with endurance activities like CrossFit and boxing, and “showy” events like bikini, figure, and bodybuilding competitions. Of course, the venue is rounded out by a wide variety of people trying to sell stuff, like equipment, clothing and supplements. This year, the weightlifting event was directly next door to the powerlifting booth and directly across from some sort of jail-inspired iron cage (seriously, WTF?). Not only were we competing with these 2 booths in terms of the noise level, but the bikini models on stage were posing to their favorite pop-chick music from the 90’s. It was a bit of a cluster fuck to say the least.

I had to weigh in at 8:00 am as my session began competition at 10:00 am. After making weight easily, there was an immediate need for refueling and caffeine. Once those basic needs were satisfied, it was time to get ready to lift all the things. Coach had planned that I would open with a weight that I could hit comfortably, the second attempt would be close to my current PR and the final attempt would be just above my PR. Following in this progression, I started with a 59 kg opening snatch, followed by a 62 kg snatch. At nationals in April, I had hit a 64 kg snatch, which was a new record for me. So coach decided to bump me up to 65 kg. The pull felt great, I got under the bar and caught it. However, on my attempt to rise up out of the bottom of the catch, my weight shifted forward slightly and I lost control, resulting in a missed lift.

Although I completed my opening C&J at 77 kg, the judges called it a missed lift because of a slight elbow bend on the left side. Coach said that it looked easy and asked if I wanted to go up – so I said sure. Without having completed a C&J, we bumped up the weight to 80 kg (just 1 kg off my PR!) and I hit it easily. For my final lift, I attempted an 82 kg C&J. Similar to the snatch, the pull felt great. I caught the bar at the bottom of the clean with an upright and locked torso. But try as I might, I just couldn’t get up out of the hole. Another missed PR attempt. I finished with a total of 143 kg which is only 3 kg off of my personal best. In all, I was very happy with the performance. Never have I caught a 65 kg snatch or an 82 kg C&J so even though the lifts were not completed, it is still progress in the right direction. Although, after getting stuck in the hole, Coach Adrian threatened me with a future full of heavy front squats with a 5 second hold in the bottom position!

Jadon weighed in at 10:30 and his competition began at 12:30. For the first time ever, Jadon actually had to cut weight. Lucky for him, he was fully hydrated. After an hour in the sauna, he easily made weight. Jadon got off to a shaky start and missed his opening snatch at 87 kg. After pulling his head out of his ass, he walked out on the platform and made his second attempt at 87 kg look easy.  For his third snatch, he easily hit a new competition PR at 90 kg.

After a short break, Jadon opened the C&J with an easy 105 kg lift, which tied his current PR. Coach increased the weight on the bar to 108 kg. The clean portion of the lift was easy, but the judges called a no lift on the jerk. Jadon tried again and although he was close, he just couldn’t nail the jerk. He finished the competition with a 195 kg total and finished the day with a 3 kg competition PR.