Fifty-five competitors have entered the event, which will be held at the Otago Amateur Weightlifting Association’s clubrooms tomorrow. That is up from around 25 the previous season and organiser Phil Murphy put the increase down to two factors.
With the rise of CrossFit, powerlifting has gone through a boom, and people had stopped using the special supportive clothing that was often a barrier for the athletes, Murphy said.
The event is an opportunity for the best lifters to qualify for the South Island and national championships.
The South Island Championships are in Christchurch in June. The nationals are in Dunedin in mid-August and will be staged at the Town Hall.
Southlander Andy Mahon will headline the weekend’s event. The M1 lifter won five medals at the Oceania competition in Christchurch in December, setting world records in the squat, deadlift and overall total.
He is off to the World Championships in Belarus in June.
Veteran Otago M2 lifter Trevor Bills is returning to the sport after several years away and it will be interesting to see how he performs, Murphy said.
The men’s junior 83kg class was shaping as one of the most keenly contested categories with eight lifters chasing gold.
Lesley Procter, the only masters 3 lifter, is expected to do well. She has just returned from the World Masters games in Auckland, where she competed in the Olympic weightlifting competition and took gold. Masters 2 lifter Marie Soffe is likely to give younger open-class lifters good competition.
There are also six Special Olympics lifters competing, three of whom are expected to qualify for the South Island Championships.
