"A good day at the office" was how Southern Region's Andy Mahon described his overall victory in the National Powerlifting Championships at the Edgar Centre over the weekend.
Mahon (36), a maintenance fitter from Invercargill, dominated the 105kg class, recording a 340kg squat, 207.5kg bench press and broke his own New Zealand record in the deadlift with 312.5kg.
His tally of 860kg not only placed in the elite class, but broke his own New Zealand record he set in the Czech Republic at the world championships last year, where he bettered the previous mark by a massive 45kg, recording a total weight of 850kg.
Mahon burst on to the powerlifting scene 10 years ago, following a brief stint with junior grade rugby.
He made an immediate impression on the sport, winning several regional and South Island titles, and over the past five years has featured prominently in national competition.
"Andy was good at the bench press when he first started, and he's got better and better," Southern Region team-mate Trevor Bills, of Dunedin, said.
"He's just gone from good to great."
Although setting his expectations high for the tournament, Mahon preferred to keep things in perspective as he looks ahead to the Oceania championships, in Sydney later this year.
"It's going to be a tough ask with one of the Aussie lifters, so I'm going to have to put another 15kg on each lift."
Following the Oceania championships, Mahon will work toward another crack at the world championships in Norway later next year.
Another Southern Region lifter to stand out was Dunedin's Steve Varga, who won the open men's 120kg class with a commanding performance, lifting 340kg in the squat, 220kg in the bench press and 312.5kg in the dead lift for a tally of 872.5.
Varga overcame a strong challenge from Auckland's Jono Radich, who sat on his tail throughout the competition, lifting 325kg in the squat, 212.5kg in the bench press and 300kg in the dead lift for a tally of 838kg.
Costa Alexopoulos (Wellington) proved popular, drawing plenty of support from the large crowd.
For Alexopoulos (38), it was his fourth national championship in as many years of being involved in the sport.
He added 7.5kg to his personal bests in both the bench press (210kg) and deadlift (290kg) and equalled his previous best in the squat (300kg) for a personal best tally of 800kg.
Canterbury lifter Tania Pitt-Guthrie set the competition alive on Friday with commanding display to win the women's 52kg class.
The social worker from Ashburton lifted 120kg in the deadlift, 75kg in the bench press and 124kg in the squat, for a combined tally of 319kg and a grand slam of national records.
Pitt-Guthrie (40) will compete in the World Masters Championships in Texas in October along with partner Steve Lousich, who was in action yesterday contesting the masters 120kg class.
A feature of the weekend's competition was the performance of a blind lifter Ming Ming Edgar, representing the Northland Region.
Edgar finished third in the 74kg junior class, lifting 140kg in the squat, 100kg in the bench press and 160kg in the deadlift for a total of 400kg.
