Viv powers ahead

Viv Hazelton has been active and sporting all her life – then, a year ago, she decided to, quite literally, lift her game.

Now she is stronger than she has ever been and has set her sights on national and, perhaps, world records.

The 74-year-old Picton resident, a keen mountain biker and tramper, recently discovered power lifting and, within 12 months, she is setting new records.

Viv explains. “I wanted to get stronger for mountain biking so I was going to the gym in Picton, playing around with weights and probably on course to injure myself, when I saw a story in the paper about Carli Dillen [Blenheim-based owner of Barbell and Beyond] offering training sessions on power lifting and I thought, ‘this is exactly what I need, someone to coach me’.”

“We started just having a look at technique once a week,” added Carli, “and she was just amazing”.

“Then you kind of get sucked in and hooked,” explained Viv. “I think it is the progression of it. If you are competitive, which I am after having done a lot of sport, you are kind of competing against yourself all the time, to get better in technique and to lift heavier weights. I enjoyed power lifting from the start.”

“Viv was already very fit and very strong,” said Carli, “she could bust out 10 push-ups like it was nothing and was always extremely capable. Technique took a while, just to cement some habits, but her lifting was always safe.”

Viv has entered two competitions, competing in the masters four [for lifters in their 70s] under 52kg division in Dunedin and Wellington.

With masters’ lifters few and far between, especially in the higher age brackets, it came as no surprise that Viv was in a league of her own.

“I came first and last,” she laughed.

However, the lack of competition did not matter as she lifted three unofficial New Zealand records – a 57.5kg squat, a 42.5kg bench and a 87.5kg deadlift - all personal bests.

Viv has the opportunity to make these records official at the IPF nationals in May and has already achieved the numbers required to represent NZ at the World Masters in South Africa.

The lively septuagenarian is also a keen student of the sport.

“She is up to date with all the latest research and podcasts on nutrition, science and strength training,” said Carli.

“Because I am retired, I have time to do all this,” said Viv. “Otherwise, I would just get bored.”

Originally from South Canterbury, Viv spent her early years on both snow and water skis, moved into triathlons and athletics during her teenage years. Upon moving to England, where she spent a large slice of her life, Viv got into skiing on artificial slopes, becoming a ski instructor, before becoming “hooked” on mountain biking.

She returned to New Zealand in 2015, choosing Rotorua, “for the mountain biking”, before buying a house in Picton four years ago.

Viv is unwilling to set any specific goals for her lifting future, suggesting “I don’t know what I am capable of”.

Carli, who claimed the M1-69kg world crown at the IPF Masters world championships in Mongolia last year, is more forthcoming.

“I have no doubt that she will win the world champs,” predicted the 41-year-old instructor. “She may even break a world record and change our perception of what it means to live a functional and healthy life in our seventies and eighties. She is ground-breaking.”

Viv has followed a simple game plan, whether mountain biking or lifting. “I used to put in a lot of miles on my bike and I always said it was an investment in the next 10 years of my life.

“Now I realise that getting stronger is also a deposit on the rest of my life,” she added.