Power aplenty from local lifters

Blenheim’s powerlifters continued their ongoing battle to defy gravity when the Great South Grand Slam came to town on Saturday.

Ascension Gym in Springlands hosted the event, with 12 lifters competing in their bench press, squat and deadlift throughout the day.

Among those turning on the power were Cyril Heywood, who came just 10kg short of a 1000kg total lift across the three disciplines, 18-year-old Izayah Drayton, who scored a 640kg total, plus 17-year-old Nikita Watson who remained stoic despite deadlifting 127.5kg.

Among the field was Special Olympian Benn Thomas, who lives with down syndrome and put on a show for the gathered crowd with personal bests in his bench press, squat and deadlifts.

“The weights were heavy, but I felt so good when I got them up”, said Benn.
“I heard everyone yelling and felt them wanting me to lift it, but I didn’t really listen. I just lift the bar up, it’s what I do.”

Special Olympics Marlborough coach Bob Tate said he was, “super, super proud of the boy”.

“He hasn’t even been doing powerlifting for a year, and we train three times a week at the Stadium, so working with Richard [de Reeper] once a week to improve his technique and lift with the Ascension team gives Ben more impetus,” says Bob.

“Benn really puts the effort with training and again in the show today with personal bests across all his lifts, but Richard has helped Ben tremendously.”

Benn now has a couple of months off now before training for the Special Olympics National Summer Games in December and will be looking to take the competition by storm. “From being pretty new to powerlifting, Benn’s gone really well and put in some great effort in the lead up and today,” commented Richard, the Ascension Gym owner. “I’ve been working with Benn and Bob for five or six weeks to get used to the equipment and technique tips, but they’ve been brilliant, and it’s shown in the results today.

“He missed a command on the squat and dipped the bar a little bit to one side on one, but that’s something that comes with more time and practise.”

Richard says the impetus behind local powerlifting competitions is keen gym members and volunteers willing to spend their Saturday loading bars and protecting lifters. “The whole South Island Grand Slam event has been great to bring back again this year with eager local lifters and competitors from further abroad travelling to compete at a Global Powerlifting Committee [GPC] competition.

“There’s been a bit of stress in training up a new spotting crew and throwing them in the deep end on competition day, but we’ll hopefully have more referees’ qualified shortly and run more GPC events in Blenheim,” added Richard.