The first weekend of the NZPF Regional Championships series has come to a close and boy, it did not disappoint.
With 42 lifters from the Waikato/Bay of Plenty area, and 69 from Wellington & Central North Island took to the platform in an effort to qualify for the 2020 New Zealand National Championships and send a statement to their future competitors.
The regional series is always good, but this year is particularly exciting due to the cancelation of the North & South Island Championships. Meaning, that this is the only opportunity to qualify for the National Championships in mid-October in Christchurch.
Let's get into it!
Waikato & Bay of Plenty:
The Waikato & Bay of Plenty Championships were hosted in Hamilton on Saturday. The competition ran as one big session, meaning it was a long day for lifters and organisers involved. Unfortunately, the live stream didn't have names on it, but we have picked out some great moments from the action on the day.
First up (we'd be crazy not to mention this out of the gate) Tim Monigatti, an 83kg lifter in his first year in the open age class totaled 800kg by way of a 300kg squat (un-official NZR), 172.5kg bench and 327.5kg deadlift (un-official NZR). This makes Tim the 5th lifter in the 83kg class worldwide to total this, and the second New Zealander - behind the former world champion, Brett Gibbs. Suffice to say this got people around the world talking, and has us all asking whether we'll have another kiwi in podium contention at the next IPF World Championships.
Tim Monigatti's record-breaking squat and deadlift from this weekend.
Evie Corrigan, usually of Auckland also made an appearance at the WBOP champs. Competing in the 63kg class for the first time (Evie is a world medalist in the Junior 52 & 57kg classes), Evie cruised to an easy 425kg total by way of a 155kg squat, 85kg bench and 185kg deadlift - Apparently only 92.5% of her one-rep-maxes.
A photo of Evie, from IPF worlds 2018.
Some other highlights included; sub-junior lifter and future star, Heath Graham pulling an un-official NZ deadlift record in the 93kg class with 260.5kg, Catherine Menzies unofficially breaking the 63kg M3 total record, and relative newcomer, Seth Stuart pulling a whopping 280kg deadlift in the 93kg class.
A full review of Waikato is due once we have some results, but suffice to say it was a great day for all involved.
Wellington & Central North Island
The Wellington & Central North Island Championship ran across both Saturday and Sunday and was hosted at the famed Viking Brother Strength & Conditioning Gym. There was quite a bit of hype surrounding this competition, partly due to the stacked men's 93kg class.
We had three names flagged to be contenders in this matchup; Jordan Clout, Jordan Heketa & Philip Chan. From the jump, these three were evenly matched with all lifters putting up a squat within 2.5kg of each other. Moving to the bench, Heketa pushed ahead with a massive 182.5kg press and had a close round with 187.5kg - He needed to push this as much as possible, knowing Clout would have the upper hand on the deadlift. Eventually, however, Jordan Clout's deadlift ability won him the competition and allowed him to hit his first 700kg total by way of 245kg squat, 157.5kg bench, and 297.5kg deadlift. Heketa wound up 20kg behind with a 255kg pull and Philip Chan ended up with a 625kg total.
Aside from the close-fought battle in the 93s, there were a number of standout totals. Wade Philips of the men's 105kg class, totaled 747.5kg to win best overall lifter after a couple of attempts to make weight. In the open women's classes, Holly Jenkins stunned in the 57kg class with a massive 355kg total, 17.5kg up from her result at nationals last year and newcomer Sarah Surtees gave us all a bit of a shock with a 330kg total in the 52kg class, having made some fairly big attempt jumps, especially on the bench. Mallory Toeaiga also showed some might in the deadlift with a huge 220kg pull and narrow miss of 230kg.
Wade attempting 300kg on the day - slightly too much in the end.
In the master's age group, Jennie Hopkinson of the M1 72kg broke a few regional records and finished up with a 359.5kg total, Margret Bastion unofficially broke the NZ M3 72kg squat record with 105kg, and Craig McMillian (not the cricketer) hit a 625kg total in the Men's 93kg M2 class with a few Kg's on the table due to some big jumps in attempts.
On the bench-only side of things, father and son combo, Pun & Joseph Teofilo wowed with Joseph (son) benching 130kg in the sub-junior 66kg class and Pun (dad) making easy work of 207.5kg in the 105kg class.
Next weekend, we have the three-day Auckland Championships, starting Friday, July 17, and the Canterbury Championships on Saturday, July 18. These two competitions will help set the scene for what we can expect at Nationals, with large contingents of lifters in both regions ready and rearing to go.
Think we missed something? Let us know: info@northshorebarbell.co.nz
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