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CAPO 2002 NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS Welcome to the 2002 CAPO Australian Powerlifting Championships! Held at the “Mercure Resort”, Surfers Paradise on Queensland’s magnificent coastline, the organisers, Mason Jardine & Dean Cowan, are to be congratulated for: - Their choice of venue (absolutely marvellous), & - Co-ordination of the two-day event – everything progressed smoothly, evenly & successfully! The weather remained kind to all local & interstate visitors, & the “nightlife” on the Gold Coast was enjoyable, to say the least! Saturday, August 3, saw the Men’s Novice & Master’s lifters take to the stage at noon. Twelve gents from various parts of the continent battled it out for placings in the appropriate age/weight divisions, with more than one close battle for 1st!! Briefly, Nathan Edwards, under the tuition of the great Joe Zollo, easily bettered his previous performance at the Victorian State Titles in May to take first place in the juniors (on “Reschel” formula) over local lad, Michael Trentin, with Matthew Flood, from the Ballina Team in third position. The lifting, as a whole, was of a very high standard, with numerous National Records broken along the way. The Novice Men’s section also did the sport proud, with four lifters, again from various locations, doing their best for Gold! An absolute “humdinger” between Robert Harris (NT), & David Ryan (NSW) in the 100kg division saw the class deadlift of the day win it for Rob in his second-only competition! An absolute ripper, with commendations to Dave in trying to pull the winner on his final attempt – well done, fellas!! Placings were : Rob, Ken Fiske from Victoria, & Dave from Albury - great lifting, guys!! Five Masters, from 46 to 70! Years young took to the platform at this time, with, once again, a solid battle between Peter Phillips from WA, & Terrence Titus representing NT. Friendly foes from the previous National Titles in Perth, Terrence managed to pull away from Peter in the Deadlift to secure his second win in a row, with Pete declaring all-out war for 2003!! Look out – next year’s Nat’s in Melbourne will sizzle!! Kevin Carter, from QLD, failed to complete one squat, thereafter ruing the recent purchase of an “unusual” squat suit, vowing to “get things in order” for next year. Good luck, Kevin! Incredibly, Maurice Craggs, from the home-state, at 70+, won the overall,
with lifting I could describe as nothing short of sensational! Day Two, & “Ladies first!” At 9am, the fairer sex took to the stage, putting on an excellent show as a prelude to the Open Men’s lifting in the afternoon. Eleven girls, ranging in weight between 48 & 90kg, showed the audience their talents. Not surprisingly, for the umpteenth year in a row, Taylor Young from Albury, at a “light” 60kg bodyweight, garnered 1st place overall on formula, followed by a steady Coral Quinell from NT, & Teresa Manning from the Sunshine State in third. Otherwise, Tegan Colliver, managed by an exhuberent prez., lifted precisely for win in the 48kg division, Terrence Titus’ wife Cecilia showed strong potential in the 82.5kg class, & Silje Sorenseon, lifting with the Balllina Team, had form & control beyond her years, being my pick for “most likely” in seasons to come. The Vic. President’s wife, Kyra Brown, showed improvement from last year, &, rounding out proceedings, applause for Amanda Miller/Suzanne Jackson from the NT, Kate Cottrell from the Albury crew, &, finally, a “shorter-haired” Vicki Cowan from Brisbane – all the ladies are to be congratulated on an excellent session of lifting! Whilst the girls were “battling it out”, the Open Men warmed up at the rear. Traditionally, since the “dawn” of Powerlifting competition, the Elite class generally showcases the best Australia has to offer in the sphere of strength, & this year was no exception. Twenty-one athletes, many of whom could be accurately described as almost “legendary”, started just after lunch on August 4, 2002. Unfortunately, space restrictions disallow me to fully put forth a detailed
document of that afternoon’s events, however, to summarise: Briefly, one lifter each in the 60 & 67.5kg classes – in his last year as a junior, Adrian Zalcman performed well in the lightest division of the afternoon, finishing with a total of 487.5kg, garnering an Oz Record deadlift along the way. Darrell Pugh, all the way from sunny Perth, in his second only powerlifting competition, lifted smoothly throughout, just missing an All-time Biggest bench record (twice in a row) of 160 @ 67.4 b’weight. His progress, in only two competitions, has been astounding, & we await his breaking of the Australian Record total within the very near future! Three lifters at 82.5kg – no surprises here, with the unstoppable Laurie Butler from Albury breaking the usual handful of Australian/World Masters Records with comfortable ease – is there no end to this dominance..?Dominic Morton, from the host state, missed only two attempts for the day, & revelled in equaling Laurie’s Squat! Well done, Dom! Angelo Galati burst on to the powerlifting scene in 1995, with an incredible All-Time biggest bench @ 75 b’weight with a 180.5, breaking a long standing mark set in 1987. In the years since, he has gradually crept up the rankings in this country with a series of amazing benchpress performances, & today was to be no exception. Pre-comp. talk of a 220kg @ a “light” 78.5 b’weight proved to be on the money, as he finished with 218kg, for a new World Sub-Masters Record in the 82.5 division, & the GREATEST EVER BENCHPRESS (on exact bodyweight formula) IN AUSTRALIAN POWERLIFTING HISTORY!!! That’s close to THREE TIMES bodyweight, folks! Hoo-eee!!! And we’re told there’s more to come – WATCH THIS SPACE! Again, three 90kg lifters, with lean ‘n’ mean Dave Smith
from the NT posting a 720kg Total for the win. Long-time powerlifter,
Steve Brandon, from QLD, made his return to the National stage since,
I believe, 1987. Contest promoter Mason Jardine, carrying a nasty injury to his leg suffered only days before, wasn’t able to squat, however, somewhat remarkably, managed two Australian records for the day, before limping off stage. In particular, the 332.5kg Deadlift was well deserved, as the discomfort was quite obvious during & after the lift. With most everybody from last years Nationals in Perth having moved up a division, George Verikios took advantage, & lifted in his usual controlled manner to clinch the 100kg title. Also from Victoria, Warren Rozen, another lifting in his last year as a junior, easily pulled a World Record 335.5kg deadlift, to his, & others, obvious delight. Expect big things from this lad – his lifts keep going up & up. 110kg Open Mens – five lifters, each with their own personal agenda for the day. In short, Mark Simpson from the NT completed five successful lifts for a 710tl. Henry Day, another unable to squat due to injury, benched a beautiful 227.5kg at the State Titles in WA three months earlier, & came to QLD to better this mark. 230 on a third increased his Sub-Masters record, but 240 was too heavy, never-the-less, a great performance from Henry! Having known both Chris Brown & Vince Simonetta for many years as both friends & competitors, I looked forward in eager anticipation to their first meeting on the platform. Much pre-contest discussion centered on squat & total records, & I believe no-one could have been happier than Mr. Brown with an easy third attempt Squat of 345.5kg, to give him his first Open Mens record in some ten years of competition. With probably ten or fifteen kg spare in this lift, we expect 360+ in 2003. I last saw Vince lift in Alice Springs in 1987, at what is commonly considered to be the finest ever National powerlifting competition, where he totaled a phenomenal 882.5 @ 100, a performance that has lived long & clear in my own mind. After a shaky start on his first squat attempt, the 3rd - 335 - nearly flew clean off his back! 355-360 certainly wasn’t out of the question either, so a “battle royale” was imminent! Vince’s legendary pulling power eventually won the fight, however
both men are certainly capable of 880+ for 2003 – look out Melbourne!!! For the first time in a long while, four Super-heavys. Paul Newman & Jamie Flood, both from NSW, lifted commendably, with bigger & better things to come from these two gentlemen. For some time now, Michael Pianko, son of former great Stan Pianko,
has indicated totals in the 1000+ range. Whilst he most certainly has
the lifts to consolidate this, bad luck seems to dog him at each competitive
outing. The 355 Squat had 25+ kg left over, though, surprisingly, 370
didn’t go on a 4th. Three no-go’s on a 225 opener in the bench
left him high & dry, leaving the door open for – possibly –
the biggest benchpress EVER in Australian history. This brought to a close the 2002 Championships, with most retiring to the relative comfort of the “bar”, to discuss how it happened, & what might have been! No Powerlifting competition of this magnitude can be a success without the tireless work behind the scenes from a few thankless individuals. Our sincere thanks must be extended to Andrea & Yuris Sterns, Wendy & Tegan Colliver, Jason Tysoe (& other platform crew..), Sharon Waters & others ( you know who you are) – it could not be done in your absence. Aside from Rod Sylvia, fantastic, too, for one of the greatest ever, Dino Toci, 1998 Powerlifting World Champion, to come along & lend his support & advice. We look forward to his speedy return to the platform. See you all next year in Melbourne, followed up by the pinnacle of ten magnificent years of CAPO Powerlifting, the WPC World Championships in Darwin, November, 2003. Congratulations to all the lifters & crew of CAPO Australia!
Award winners were:
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