LANCASHIRE powered to glory to finally get one over the old enemy in the War of the Roses show-down in Colne.

It was the first time the Red Rose county had got their hands on the coveted Power-lifting Roses Cup having lost the previous two encounters against their Yorkshire rivals.

The contest, held annually at venues either side of the Pennines, saw each side flex their collective muscles in the three disciplines of squat, bench press and deadlift.

And it was Lancashire who won one by the slimmest of margins, beating Yorkshire 26-24 at the Inter-shape Gym on Albert Road.

“It was a really close battle and it was the first time Lancashire had won after losing in the last two years,” said event organiser Bryn Evans, North West divisional secretary of the GB Powerlifting Federation.

The event saw lifters split in to Masters, Seniors, Woman and Juniors with points added together to find the overall winner.

“The contest has been very popular with competitors from both counties,” added Evans.

“And there was some impressive lifting by competitors of all ages.

“The best lifter award went to Ian Shaw of Wigan while Tony Stevenson from Doncaster set two British records at the event.”

Each competitor had three lifts in each discipline with the winner based on the ‘Wilks’ points system which compares athletes of differing body weights And while Lancashire only won one of the four age groups, it was the impressive overall placings that earned the win.

Shaws biggest lifts in the squat(277.5kg), bench (157.5kg) and deadlift (725kg) was enough to win the Seniors while Yorkshire’s Steve English won the Masters thanks with squat (172.5kg), bench (112.5kg) and deadlift (205kg).

Louise Clark won the women’s event with Peter Bielby, also of Yorkshire, the top junior.