Husband-and-wife combination Rennie (50) and Marie (49) Soffe both broke records in the masters bench press at the Oceania powerlifting championships in Christchurch this week.
Rennie Soffe was competing in the 90kg, aged 50 to 59, class and won the gold medal with a lift of 207.5kg.
It broke the Otago, South Island, New Zealand and Oceania records and was a remarkable lift for a powerlifter of Soffe's weight and age.
He was the first masters powerlifter to lift more than 200kg in New Zealand.
Marie Soffe also competed in the 50 to 59 age group in the 67.5kg class and won the gold medal with a lift of 82.5kg.
"It wasn't a good lead-up for the championships because the gymnasium was closed during the Christmas-New Year period," Rennie said.
"But it felt good to break the 200kg mark."
Rennie, a team leader at Fisher and Paykel, had done weight training for fitness from the age of 13 but decided to become a competitive powerlifter only in 2003.
Marie, a credit analyst, decided to support Rennie by training with him.
Rennie and Marie train together five days each week at the Sky Fitness gymnasium.
They also cycle, mountain bike and walk to develop their aerobic fitness.
South Otago's Bruce Park (72) broke a New Zealand bench press record in his age group in the 67.5kg class with his lift of 87.5kg.
Steve Varga, in the open men's 110kg class, equalled his South Island bench press record with a lift of 220kg.
The other top performance by an Otago lifter came from Trevor Bills, who won the gold medal in the age 40 to 49 age group in the 100kg class with a bench press of 185kg.
