This weekend saw a highly successful running of the annual Men’s British Classic Powerlifting Championship at the Hyndburn Leisure Centre in Accrington. Usually a venue for the family, including facilities for swimming and a soft play area for children, from Saturday morning until Sunday evening saw the hall taken over by over one hundred burly gents, fighting it out for the glory of being named national champion within their weight class.

Powerlifting is a sport in which the competitors have three attempts at lifting as much as possible in the squat, three more in the bench press and a final three in the deadlift, with the object being to gain the highest total against your rivals. This was a national competition, with lifters converging on the mighty North West from all over the country to make their mark on the competition. It was a highly exciting weekend, with some fantastic battles throughout all the weight classes. There was a sometimes tense and always intense atmosphere for all the spectators, including not only friends and family of the lifters, but also a great number of locals who came to find out what this amazing sport was all about.

The smallest men of the weekend were in the under 59 kilos (or just over 9 stones in old money!), with the largest tipping the scales at a rather large 120kg plus (around 19 stones). Whilst the athletes were from across the country, there was still plenty of representation for the North West, with at least two of the big winners from Lancashire. The Lancashire men in question are Daniel Worsley who took the victory for the 83kg (13 stones) class, though Daniel, 24, now lives outside the region, he was born and grew up in Burnley. Across the three lifts, he managed an almighty 732.5kg (more than 115 stones!), taking the British deadlift record for his weight class in the process. Running behind Daniel, second place went to Jurins Kengamu representing Greater London division and in third was Owen Lockwood, from Yorkshire North East division. The even bigger winner, in more ways than one, was the towering form of Tony Cliffe. A recent transplant to the North West, Tony, 34, lives in the little village of Love Clough, just to the east of Accrington. Tony not only managed to win the 120kg (19 stones) class with an incredible 900kg (142 stones) total across his lifts, and took the British Record in the squat for his weight class, the biggest ever in British Powerlifting. But not only that, he also secured the additional plaudit of best lifter of the weekend which saw him take home two trophies. Coming in second to Tony was Baruch Sekenofsky representing Greater London division, and in third Robert Rees, also from Greater London.

In the Saturday morning session, the 59kg class was won by Ben Hampson representing East Midlands, totalling 465kg and run to the wire by his rival Shashir Sikder on 462.5kg. The 66kg class was taken by Andrew Dawes of the South East division on 542.5kg, only 10kg ahead of second place Joseph Diva. The 74kg class was edged by James Duff of the Yorkshire North East division with 660.5kg, more than 20kg over the second placed Christopher Wong.

The Saturday afternoon session was a huge session, including more than 30 lifters. The 83kg competition mentioned was won by local boy Daniel, with the 93kg (15 stones) class was won by Hendrick Famutimi of Greater London, a tense finish bringing him narrowly ahead of class favourite Pierre Shillingford, also of Greater London, their totals at 750kg to 730kg respectively.

The Sunday morning saw the heavier men take the platform, with some difficult to believe weights being moved by these giant gents. All three of the classes were fought particularly hard, with national records dropping like flies, which gives you some idea of the level of the competition. As the dust settled, the 105kg (16.5 stones) class was dominated by the stocky mass of Aaron Hull from the Yorkshire North East division, totalling a massive 820kg, taking 80kg over his nearest rival, Marvin Turner from the North West (though from Merseyside rather than Lancashire!). The largest men of the weekend, those who weigh at least 120kg, where there is no maximum limit were last on the platform on the Sunday. It was a tense victory for the giant Jord McLaughlin of the North West, weighing in at 145kg (23 stones), he managed to lift a total of 890kg; taking the British Record in the squat in the process. The second placed man Aaron Thompson attempted to beat Jord with the final deadlift of the day, had he been successful, he would have also sealed the British Record deadlift. Unfortunately for Aaron he was unable to lift the required 355.5kg and handed the victory to Jord.