Twenty-five national records tumbled yesterday and Invercargill's Andy Mahon was among the best on display.
Lifting in the open men's 105kg class, Mahon eclipsed his own national records for the squat and the deadlift with respective lifts of 315.5kg and 313kg.
His total, which included a 165kg bench press, was a whopping 793.5kg and also a new national record.
Canterbury's Steve Lousich also impressed, setting four national records in the 120kg-plus master 1 category.
He lifted 270kg for the squat, a 235.5kg deadlift and benched 202.5kg for a record total of 708kg.
Kapiti's Jessie Walker provided another highlight when she snatched the open 84kg-plus national record from Southland's Sonia Manaena with a 183kg squat.
Competition co-organiser Phil Murphy said the country's best weightlifters had been drawn south to Dunedin to compete in the national bench press championships at the Otago Weightlifting Club on Saturday and had stayed on to have a crack at various national records.
''This tournament was not your regular powerlifting competition,'' he explained.
''It was just an effort from individuals to take the records because we had the national referees here in Dunedin for the national bench press championships.
''The standard of competition was as good as it gets in the country. Heavens, we had all the best lifters in the country here and you had to be the best to actually enter.''
Murphy said Mahon's effort was one of the highlights but Walker's record squat was also a thrill.
Walker took the squat record off Manaena, who rose to fame when she set a world record in 2013 with a deadlift of 236kg.
The squat is a different discipline but Walker was pleased to nab the record all the same.
''Jessie came down with the explicit intention of taking the [squat] record off her, so it was mission accomplished.''
At the national bench press championships on Saturday, Hawkes Bay lifter Dimi Hanara lifted 240kg in the equipped event, while Auckland's Isher Singh, competing in the open 75kg class, was the best with a lift of 147.5kg.
Canterbury's Sarah Simpson impressed with a 95kg bench in the equipped event, while Jessica Hanara benched 90kg in the unequipped category.
