The first day of BUCS saw the U47, U52, and U57 women take to the platform in the morning, with the U59 and U74 men in the afternoon. Vikki Li would be competing in the U52 class, with a personal goal of a 290kg total to achieve a full-blue. Katie O’Flaherty and Anna Clay were nominated 5th and 2nd in the U57 class respectively, and so were looking to dominate the podium. Yaron had drawn the short straw and was tasked with handling two of CUPLC’s most hyper lifters, while CUPLC’s favourite supportive SO Adrian came along to handle Anna.
Vikki went 3 for 3 on squats, with an easy 100kg on her third attempt to hit a 5kg PB despite only doing three sets in the warmup room. With Flight A squats complete, it was time for CUPLC’s strong U57s in Flight C to start warming up. Now, while many powerlifters claim to lift heavy in order to fight their demons, Katie took things one step further by carrying out a full-blown exorcism as she warmed up for squats, contorting her body in ways that no powerlifter ever should.
And yet despite that, Vikki thought it looked fun enough to join in. Katie’s opener moved as expected, but her second attempt fell off her back after stepping on the centre spotter’s foot! Fortunately, the jury was in a good mood that day and offered Katie an extra attempt, which she absolutely smashed, matching her comp PB. She took a 5kg jump for her third attempt, leaving her with a 122.5kg squat and 3 out of 4 successful squats. In the meantime, Anna easily squatted a massive 132.5kg on her third attempt, redeeming herself after missing it at Varsity.
Next up for the bench press – Vikki quietly built up her total once again going 3 for 3 and achieving a 57.5kg bench.
Katie opened with her previous comp PB, then took a 2.5kg jump to 62.5kg on her second attempt. On her third attempt, she managed to press 65kg but not without jumping the command. Anna’s second attempt was a matched comp PB, so she added 2.5kg for her third attempt of 72.5kg. After a fight with the bar that the commentators described as “the best grind so far”, she was given three white lights and a new personal record!
Finally, the much-anticipated deadlifts. Vikki’s opener flew, so she took a big 10kg jump up to 132.5kg to hit her 290kg total and get the full-blue. Yaron then submitted a massive 145kg for the third attempt, which would match the current BUCS deadlift record and pull Vikki into third place. After Vikki’s secret twin sister, who was also contending for third place, missed her final deadlift, Vikki’s final attempt was dropped to a far less terrifying 140kg. She stepped onto the platform, hyped up on Christian hymns (not a joke), and pulled the bar with everything she had left. The bar moved slowly, but she locked it out – getting two white lights and the third place position! Her joy would be short-lived as the jury, who by now seemed to be not having such a good day, decided to overturn her lift, knocking her back down to 5th place. Next up would be Katie and Anna. Katie was aiming for third place in the U57s, and her first two attempts moved well, with Katie matching her PB with her second pull. Finally, 142.5kg was loaded on the bar, and Katie got in the zone with Encanto’s ‘We Don’t Talk About Bruno’ (and frankly, Yaron would have preferred if she didn’t sing about Bruno either). As Katie locked out her final deadlift, it occurred to her that she had successfully pulled herself into 3rd place! Unfortunately though, the advantage of the deadlift battle was not on her side, and she had to retreat to the stands to watch two more lifters attempt to knock her off the podium. The first of them missed her third attempt, and for a moment it looked like Katie would keep her spot. However, the second lifter did manage to steal away the podium position. Meanwhile, Anna was busy making sure nobody could steal her 2nd place medal (foreshadowing). Her opener moved with ease once again, and 10kg was added to the bar for a successful 155kg second attempt. Finally, Anna attempted 160kg for her third, and the bar crept up her legs in what would be another fantastic fight. However, she locked it out so fast that her shoulder rebounded forwards, and the referees penalised her for having a soft lockout. Despite the red lights, she finished up in 2nd place.
It was therefore a surprise when Katie was given the bronze medal, and Anna was not called up to the podium (due to an unfortunate computing error that meant Open lifters were grouped separately from Junior lifters on the scoresheet). However, after some excellent negotiating by the CUPLC supporters, Anna was subsequently awarded with her silver medal (and Katie quietly left the venue with her accidental bronze).
After all the drama of the morning lifting, Brandon Teh would surely have an easy time in the afternoon… right?
Brandon continues to pretend to be an U74, this time weighing in at a hefty 71.1kg, and was in safe hands with Charlie and Vikki sticking around to handle him. His opening squat looked easy, but his quads began to cramp. After applying enough Deep Heat to make a dragon sweat, he came out for the second attempt, just 2.5kg below his comp PB. It moved slowly, but well enough that he slapped on another 5kg for a big 225kg third attempt despite the other leg now cramping up. After what might be the toughest grind of his powerlifting career, Brandon traded his ability to walk for a new squat PB. As he crawled off the platform, he could be heard reminding everyone around him for the 47th time that day that he wasn’t really even planning to try hard that day, just in case they thought he found that lift heavy.
Bench press went with barely a hitch (other than, you’ve guessed it, more cramping), with Brandon finishing the event with three more good lifts and huge 145kg bench press to match his previous personal record.
As Brandon warmed up for deadlifts, he continued to cramp. While his opener moved with lightning speed, he once again hobbled off the platform. After a 15kg jump, his second attempt moved similarly well. Brandon sat in 2nd place at this point, and for this third attempt took a considerably smaller 7.5kg jump up to 257.5kg to solidify his position on the podium. His final pull was just as rapid, and as he walked off the platform, he nearly fell as his legs reminded him once again that they don’t work like they used to before.
To everyone’s surprise, Brandon was able to step onto the podium unassisted to receive his silver medal. We can’t wait to see what he is able to achieve at Junior Nats in a few weeks! Maybe even a bench press PB… (Brandon would go on to win nationals, albeit without a bench press PB).
Early on a Sunday morning, two more CUPLC members dragged themselves out of bed to head to Moulton College: Karen Soh, an U63 competitor, and her handler/driver/hype woman Amy Williams. Karen didn’t have the best prep, having to rush it and fit it around a stressful exam. However, this didn’t stop her from starting out the day strong, successfully getting all three squats and a huge 107.5kg, making the third squat move faster than the second! No doubt thanks to the Succession theme song pounding her eardrums (no, I’m still not joking – Cambridge students are a different breed). Following on from squats, Karen’s bench opener of 50kg looked very comfortable. However, the referees that morning had apparently been up all night reading mean tweets about powerlifting referees, and as a result were dealing out some vindictive pauses, leading Karen to unfortunately miss her second and third attempts. Finally, on to the deadlifts, and Karen’s opener was so easy that she took a massive 15kg jump to her second attempt of 125kg, which moved fast off the floor but slowed down a bit at lockout. Finally, Karen took a smaller 7.5kg jump for her third attempt, and while it moved similarly fast off the floor she was unable to lock it out. But she still walked away with a classic 2-red-plate deadlift!
While all this was going on, the U69 women arrived for their afternoon flight. Representing CUPLC was Zara Guppy, a plant-powered plant scientist best known for her ability to grind a lift for over 10 seconds. And former CUPLC member, now representing [redacted], Domiziana Turcatti and her handlers “BUCS legends” Raghul and Suzie.
With Zara in the earlier flight, she was up to squat first. Having recently acquired a coach, Zara was keen to try out her new comp tactics, which included waiting 10 seconds after the start command - no doubt in an attempt to unsettle her competition and throw them off their game. Zara’s first two squats moved very well, and for her final squat of 110kg she tipped forward out of the hole, and for a moment it looked like she’d lose her balance! But Zara was in fact perfectly balanced (as all things should be) and with one hell of a grind managed to good morning the bar back up to the start position to secure three white lights. Following that flight, it was Domiziana’s turn to lift. She was nominated third place and was therefore determined to end up on the podium at the end of the day. Her first two (massive) squats looked identical despite a 7.5kg jump, but given what was on the line she decided to take a conservative 5kg jump to her third squat of 142.5kg. To nobody’s surprise, it moved very easily and she walked off the platform with a comp PB and plenty of energy left in the tank for the rest of the day.
On bench press, Zara mirrored her squat performance by making her first two attempts move easily. As she came out for her third attempt at 70kg, the livestream commentators began to get excited in anticipation of the grind that was about to come. And they were not disappointed. Zara fought with the bar for what felt like an eternity (which, by the way, is not easy to do in the bench press) but once again managed to lock it out for a full complement of white lights. Keen to not be overshadowed by an actual Cambridge student, Domiziana returned to the platform in the next flight for her bench press. Just like Zara, her first two attempts moved very comfortably, and she took a small 2.5kg jump to 77.5kg for her final attempt. She looked very focused as she approached the platform and set up for the lift, and the attempt moved exactly like a third attempt should, securing Domiziana yet another good lift and yet another PB! Things seemed auspicious as she entered the deadlifts still nominated in third place.
But first up to pull would be Zara. Her first attempt moved well, but her second attempt of 150kg got a little stuck at the lockout. However, by this point it should be clear that you should never bet against Zara. So, as she walked onto the platform for her final massive grind of the day, waiting for her was 160kg – potentially a new PB. The bar moved rapidly off the floor but once again got stuck at lockout, and the entire audience was screaming at her for a full ten seconds (not even an exaggeration) as she fought to get the bar that last inch or two up her thighs. After showing a room full of seasoned powerlifters the best fight they’ve seen in their entire careers, Zara gave up and dropped the bar. Time stopped for a moment as she took a couple of steps back. Nobody was sure if she was even still conscious at this point, but as the spotters rushed in to catch her they realised the only thing she needed them to lift up were her feels. Zara may not have got her deadlift PB, but she left the platform as the crowd favourite and a newly-crowned monarch – “Queen of the Grind”.
However, the excitement was far from over. Domiziana was up to secure her podium spot, and things looked good as she stepped out to take the last opener of her flight, making light work of her first attempt. Her second attempt was similarly easy, and her prospects continued to appear bright. Despite sandbagging her second, she only took a 7.5kg jump up to 180kg for her final attempt; a pull for third place. While it slowed down at lockout, it moved far easier than a third attempt ever should. At this point, Domiziana had a 400kg total and third place under her belt with only two lifters left to follow: one who was already in second place, and the person in fourth place who appeared to be pulling for a deadlift record but would not surpass her for the podium spot. However, Domiziana’s seat was about to be challenged as the fourth place forecast upped her attempt selection to everyone’s surprise, looking to not only demolish the deadlift record but also to pull ahead of Domiziana! Her and Suzie could be seen watching from the sidelines as the final puller of the flight put in the grind of her life – albeit with a little bit of downward movement. Domiziana looked on with a mix of emotions as her rival was awarded two white lights – disappointment at ending up in fourth place despite achieving a total that would have won the previous year, but disbelief and awe at what her competition had done just to be able to beat her (Domiziana would then go on to wipe the floor with this rival at the Manchester Open a few months later).
On the afternoon of day 3 of BUCS, the U76 women were competing. Among them, Cambridge’s own Emma Onah. She came into her first national competition with personal targets in mind. And after her first two squats moved easily, she loaded up 130kg on the bar and squatted it so fast that she left the platform in disbelief! With one personal goal (and personal record) out the way, Emma returned to the platform for bench press and made 60kg fly off her chest on her second attempt. However, after a further 5kg jump for her third attempt, she got stuck in the midrange and unfortunately got her first failed lift of the day. Finally, the turn of the deadlifts. Emma had a massive third attempt of 160kg planned for the day, and in fact she even had the biggest opener of her flight! She then took a 7.5kg jump up to 157.5kg, and while it moved fast off the floor it did slow down at the lockout. Unperturbed, she loaded up 162.5kg for her final lift of the day – in excess of her own target! Once again, she ripped the bar off the floor, but this time the lockout proved too tough and she was unable to complete the lift.
Despite the fact that most of the lifters had been complete strangers at the start of the day, the atmosphere was extremely supportive and congratulatory at the medals ceremony. Emma felt touched by the camaraderie that is characteristic of this sport, further reminding her why she loves it so much.
The fourth day of BUCS saw only the U93 men competing. CUPLC had no lifters that day. But there were several reports of a ghostly sad-looking man at the venue walking around eating carrots with his singlet pulled down to his waist. Although nobody ever saw such a man on the platform.
The final day of BUCS saw the clash of the titans, with the U105 men competing in the morning followed by the U84 and 84+ women and the U120 and 120+ men in the afternoon. Representing Cambridge were Ada Adamczyk and Jasmine Mack in the U84s, with Zara and Jane tagging along to handle Ada. Drama started early, with both lifters missing weigh ins due to Yaron’s slow driving (and possibly also other factors), but the referees were feeling generous that day and let them weigh in before the men anyway. Their troubles were not over though! While Ada weighed in successfully and immediately went to town on a bottle of water, Jasmine was still too heavy and had to spend the next 30 minutes spitting into a cup. Finally, after a tense waiting period during which Jasmine nearly purchased a pack of leeches off Amazon, she weighed in again and was exactly 84.0. Jasmine and Ada were nominated 3rd and 5th respectively, but the 2nd place nominee didn’t turn up, leaving the podium positions open.
In the squats, Ada skipped her way to the platform, hitting three successful lifts and ending up with 145kg (and a 5kg PB). Jasmine’s approach was far more calm, and she squatted 165kg on her third attempt: a massive 20kg PB! On bench press, both lifters managed to press 80kg on their second attempts. Ada took a 2.5kg jump for her third attempt, which proved a little too heavy for the day. Jasmine took a 5kg jump for her final bench press after the second attempt flew. While she was able to launch it off her chest, she lost the battle in the midrange and was unable to complete the lift.
The final deadlifts of the entire competition started, and this time Jasmine would open before Ada. However, she lost balance on the way up and took a couple of steps backwards, resulting in red lights from the refs. Ada’s totally original deadlift setup allowed her to make light work of her own opener. Second round came around and Jasmine was under pressure to get herself on the board despite taking a 10kg jump - and she did not disappoint, hoisting up the bar as if it was empty and landing herself in 2nd place. Ada skipped onto the platform once again for her second attempt, and once again did not appear to struggle. Finally, in the third round, Jasmine added another 12.5kg onto her second attempt to have a go at pulling 167.5kg, which would pull her into first place. However, she forgot that it was supposed to feel heavy and the barbell flew upwards all the way to lockout, giving BUCS’ calmest lifter a big 12.5kg deadlift PB and a temporary hold on the 1st place spot! After Ada’s easy second attempt, Jane and Zara convinced her to add 7.5kg and go for a big hail Mary third attempt of 170kg. Unfortunately, Ada didn’t know what a hail Mary third attempt was, and proceeded to pull it like it was an opener. After leaving the platform, Ada needed to show off that she had plenty of energy left in the tank, so she picked up Jane and threw her in the air like it was her bat mitzvah. In the end, Jasmine placed 2nd after her main competitor pulled her out of 1st place, and Ada ended up in 4th place just 5kg below the person in 3rd. An incredible performance from both lifters, both of whom still have at least two years left at Cambridge!
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7th October | Freshers’ drinks @ Granta, 19:30. |
[TBC] | Women’s social with Women’s Rugby Club: touch rugby game followed by food/drink. Time TBC. |
4th November | Novice Comp |
Week 5 [TBC] | CUPLC hit the climbing wall: Swap with the Mountaineers @Kelsey Kerridge |
11th November | CUPLC x CUMC [Mountaineers] TTR @ Sports Centre, 16:00-18:00. |
15th November | Social with the Athletics club @Nanna Mex followed by Revs. Time TBC. |
TBC | Club formal. |
After having won the Varsity Match for 9 years straight, the pressure was on to take it to double digits. The men rose leisurely and made their journey to Iffley Road to watch the conclusions of the Women’s match. The Light Blues did the required job, adding the Cambridge name yet again to the Women’s trophy.
Our Men’s team once again was a slick, elite unit, following on from the previous year. Under the guidance of the Men’s Captain, Raghul Parthipan, the team had focussed all training on maximising Varsity performances, putting aside prospects of individual glory.
The weigh-ins went smoothly for most. We had a great team of willing helpers on the day. For example, Charlie Cambridge, not wanting to waste precious energy on putting jam on his bagel, secured the assistance of two of them (Nick Scott and Guilherme Nettesheim). After everyone had consumed nourishment, we got onto squats. Santosh recovered from an unsteady walkout to finish with a sizable 175kg. Rising talent Brandon Teh squatted 222.5kg with little difficulty. Osa Iluobe, who had been suffering with a back injury, managed to move 237.5kg, adding invaluable points to our score. Raghul secured the heaviest Cambridge squat again with 242.kg. The biggest was taken by the Dark Blue Charlie Kidd, with 290kg. Despite this, we were in a good place moving forward.
During the Bench, the lifters from both sides continued to build their totals. In the first flight, Oliver Little (finally making a long overdue appearance in the Varsity team) benched a massive 165kg to take the biggest bench. Sebastian Cornwell was the second biggest Cambridge bencher with 147.5kg. Akash Sengupta added a very respectable 125kg for a 5kg PB.
The meet only starts when the bar hits the ground. There were great pulls on either side, with only four attempts missed across all attempts! Alek Radic settled with 262.5kg after narrowly missing 277.5kg due to grip. Our biggest deadlifter of last year, Shubang Nagalotimath, moved 285kg cleanly, securing the largest total amongst the Cambridge lifters (637.5kg). And Charlie Cambridge took our biggest pull of 290kg.
We had done it once again. The Light Blues improved on their overall score by nearly 5% compared to the previous year, and we secured our 10th consecutive victory. Raghul was the top lifter of the day with 94.96 points, winning an SBD prize package, followed by Charlie Kidd (94.89) and Brandon (92.5)
Raghul extends his thanks to Oxford for organising a great event, the CUPLC executive committee, all the helpers, and, of course, to the Men’s Team. This marks the end of an era. Over the past 10 years the club has grown massively, from a team where only one or two lifters would even compete, to an extremely competitive force in UK powerlifting. All the remaining members who were around for this defining era would leave after the conclusion of the academic year. And so we begin a new, hopefully glorious, epoch for the club.
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Going into the Women’s Powerlifting Varsity this year, there was a lot riding on the day. It could be a tenth consecutive win for Cambridge, and a chance for the women’s team to prove our 2022 victory wasn’t just a one-off – or it could be the end of an era. We put everything we could into the run-up, including asking CUPLC alumni Lucy Hart (previous Women’s Captain), Elliot Vaughan (previous Social Media Officer) and Phuong Bui to help on the day. A big thanks also to the other CUPLC members who helped things run smoothly for the women’s team on the day: Bilal Chughtai and Clement Fong (Webmasters), Natalie Ho (Treasurer), Jane Ambler (Welfare & Stash Officer) and Karen Soh.
It was an early start at Oxford’s Iffley Road Sports Centre, but everyone made it on time to weigh-in, and then the rehydrating and fueling up began. We were anticipating a tough fight after seeing the announcement for the team Oxford had put together. Squats got off to a good start overall with nobody bombing out, despite a last-minute injury worry for Rachel Knight leading to us dropping her initial attempts. Lauren Domfe was the final squatter of all the women with an astonishing 170kg squat that flew up. The next heaviest squats on Cambridge’s team were Women’s Captain Amy Williams (69.7 BW) with a 142.5kg squat, and Ada Adamczyk (83.5 BW) with a 140kg squat in her first official competition.
By the time bench started, things were looking more promising for our team. Since the technical rules had recently become stricter, we were hoping our preparation had been enough, and that elbow depth and glute contact with the bench wouldn’t catch us out. Thankfully everyone made at least their second attempt, with Cambridge’s heaviest benches of the day being Amy Williams (69.7 BW) with 82.5kg, Ada Adamczyk (83.5 BW) with 77.5kg, and Rachel Knight (69 BW) with 75kg. The Oxford Women’s Captain Issy Dowling (67.1 BW) took biggest bench of the day with an impressive 87.5kg.
We were almost, but not quite, starting to relax as deadlifts began. Our lifters were mostly in the second flight of women, so depending on how the first flight’s deadlifts went, we’d have some leeway for adjusting attempts. After some very solid deadlifts in the first flight finishing with an absolutely unforgettable grind of a 157.5kg third attempt by Zara Guppy (66 BW), it was onto the last lifts of the day for both women’s teams. At this point Amy decided all our lifters should put in safe attempts to finish it and bring the cup home – and they did just that. The heaviest three Cambridge deadlifts were 160kg by Amy Williams (69.7 BW), 175kg for three red plates by Rachel Knight (69 BW) and, absolutely dominating the women’s deadlifts, an easy 190kg by Lauren Domfe (80.8 BW). We had won for the 10th consecutive year, and increased our GL point lead on the previous year for the women’s team – from 1.6 to 8.39 GL points.
I would like to congratulate the men’s team, captained by Raghul Parthipan, who achieved 94.96 GL points, the highest of all the men, and brought his own team to victory against Oxford. Well done to Anna Clay who achieved 86.91 GL points, the highest of all Oxford and Cambridge women, winning an SBD package alongside Raghul. And thank you to Oxford for hosting, along with South Midlands Powerlifting, all the referees, helpers and our Presidents Remi Rufus-Toye and Samin Moghimiasl for helping everything run so smoothly.
]]>Very exciting! I didn’t think I would be anywhere near the standard needed to get on the podium, so it was the nicest surprise when it all came together to get me into 3rd place.
The most obvious difference was that in my first university powerlifting cup in Estonia in 2019, I was competing in the -72kg category to help the Cambridge team score more points. This time, I had to do a small cut as I was in the -63kg, which I found a little bit stressful due to managing hydration, water retention, and food whilst travelling. The other difference was that this time around I was no longer at Cambridge! The difference between training with other people versus training alone made the tougher sessions tougher, and there was no one to enjoy the good sessions with!
To be honest I had no expectations for this competition. I thought that BUCs back in April, would be my last one, so I was just happy to be there and to have been selected to compete! I knew that I could beat my BUCs total, but the last couple of weeks of my peak went a bit wrong (I had some injuries growing and was over-fatigued) so I decided to just see what I could do and not set too much of a specific goal or total or anything. I only checked the nominations the night before so that I didn’t overthink that too. Even on the day I had to avoid being set on specific goals as I missed a couple of lifts I would have expected to get, and if I had been so set on hitting certain numbers I think I would have psyched myself out of the other lifts, and probably wouldn’t have reached the podium.
I am sad that I couldn’t stay longer at the venue and hang out with all the team - unfortunately it was a pretty busy period for me so I just stayed at the competition for the one night before I lifted. But, my highlight was being part of the GB universities squad. Everyone I met was so friendly and I was so impressed by how professional everything - the team was super strong and my handlers were amazing. I just wish I could have stayed longer and enjoyed it all more!
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The experience was really an opportunity of a lifetime and one that I was and am incredibly fortunate to have received. Competing at an international competition means that you get exposed to international standards of competition and judging, and in my opinion has made me really want to strive for much more. I witnessed two junior world record attempts, got to mingle and interact with athletes all over the world, and most importantly had a very decent day during my competition, going 8/9 and narrowly missing out on my last deadlift (which would have given me a deadlift bronze, overall bronze, broken the BUCS deadlift and total record). Team GB was simply electrifying to be around, and I am confident in saying that our team was by far the most supportive of all competitors throughout the competition and had the most camaraderie and of course banter.
The injury required me to take months off of bench press training to focus on rehabilitation and recovery, to the extent that at one point I was only doing isometric or eccentric work with 12 kg dumbbells! I think having the injury meant that I knew that I would have 15-20 kilos off my bench (compared to if I didn’t sustain the injury). In the competition itself I benched 135 kg, 10 kg off my personal best at BUCS. It definitely cost me kilos off my total as it meant having to push a lot more for deadlifts at the end, and while unfortunate I look forward to the day when my injury fully heals, and my bench gets fully back on track!
Surprisingly, competing internationally didn’t really have too much of an impact on performance. This was definitely due to the great handlers I had, who helped me throughout and made it such that I only had to focus on lifting whatever weight they loaded for me on the platform. However, flying and travelling as well as eating at odd times meant that I ended up losing a ton of weight, and ended up weighing in at 68.6kg while competing in the U74KG category, a besmirch on my honour and hopefully an event that will not be repeated in the future.
This being my first international competition, I came in with moderate expectations and given the time difference, travel and other factors that could have an impact on my performance, my focus on the day was putting up as good a total as I could and executing to the best of my ability, rather than focusing on a podium position. Given that I was nominated 5th overall and the top three being far ahead of me in all of the lifts, I really just focused on having a good competition.
The highlight must have been seeing Gaston (IPF president) dancing with all of us and myself quite literally dancing the soles off my dress shoes to “malo malo tebya” HAHA. In all seriousness, the trip was filled with many fun moments simply interacting with the team, having fun and enjoying my first international comp. Some for sure mention highlights would be Kral-Doner : the kebab shop that for some reason or another team GB decided was the finest establishment that turkey had to offer. Having 15 or so incredibly jacked team GB athletes jumping into the pool was another moment that was very fun, and so was being thoroughly scammed by the hotel to pay exorbitant prices to get a taxi into the city. Most importantly though, I think the moments of stepping onto the podium and getting a medal, as well as taking the final team photo on the penultimate day of the competition was such a good experience that I’d probably have to put them as the highlight of the trip.
I wouldn’t have been able to compete at this stage without the love and support of everyone in CUPLC, and I am so thankful that I decided to become a part of this club last year. A special shoutout to Suzanne for lending me her team GB tracksuit (which I shall hopefully remember to return sooner or later). I hope to do well in the upcoming competitions to compete internationally again this year and fly CUPLC’s flag high!
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This was a historical year, being the first time the Varsity Match was split into a separate Men’s and Women’s event. The men were lifting after the women, so after a night of plentiful sleep they marched to their home territory to defend their title. And straight into the battle we arrived, as the Light Blue women fought a nail-biting deadlift battle with the Dark Blues to eventual victory. With Women’s Captain Beatrice Fishwick having decisively led the Light Blues to their inaugural win, it was now time for the Men to complete the job.
Our Men’s team was a professional, elite unit unlike any seen in previous years. Under the guidance of the Men’s Captain, Raghul Parthipan, the team had diligently trained to maximise their performances at Varsity, sacrificing prospects of individual glory in other meets for that of the team. The goal of each member was purely to maximise their strength on the day. All the thinking (handling, attempt selection) was to be done by a hand-picked team of high-level coaches: Suzanne Goulder, Remi Rufus-Toye and Greg Loosen.
Following a weigh-in with minor tensions between the hungry and thirsty Light and Dark Blues, everyone took in some calories, got warmed up and entered Squats. After an unlucky call on depth on his second attempt, Seb Cornwell sunk his third of 207.5kg and fought through to clinch useful kilos. Fresher Brandon Teh put up a massive 215kg with ease, and the multi-talented Stelios Sarentellis-Komninellis (judo Full Blue) squatted 222.5kg in his favourite lift. Raghul secured the heaviest squat of the Cambridge men with 230kg, having made a good comeback from a challenging ankle injury. The biggest squat of the day was taken by the Dark Blue Charlie Kidd, who dealt with a sizable 277.5kg. Despite this, the Cambridge men had put themselves into a comfortable lead of 7 points as we went into Bench.
During the Bench, the lifters from both sides continued to build their totals. In the first flight, Santosh Guru pressed a mighty 100kg at only 59kg bodyweight. Harry Cookson did not let his missed third attempt squat faze him, and secured a notable 140kg in his last bench. And Miguel Ohnesorge tied Charlie (but at a lower bodyweight) for the biggest bench of the day with an impressive 147.5kg. Cambridge’s strategy was working well and after the bench they had further increased their lead, which now stood at 14 points.
The meet only starts when the bar hits the ground. Due to COVID, It had been hard to research how strong Oxford would be in Varsity as many of the lifters were new and we had little information on their abilities. Therefore, although we were in the lead as we entered the Deadlift, we could not afford to lapse as Oxford possessed a number of notable pullers. There were many successful pulls on either side. Morgan Phillips wobbled at the top of his opener due to it being too light, missing on a technicality. He managed to sort this out and ended with a solid 232.5kg to give a 8/9 day. Cambridge’s heaviest puller was Shubang Nagalotimath who ripped 260kg off the floor with ease in his first ever competition.
Following deadlifts, everyone looked to the scoresheets. We had done it. The Light Blues had further increased their lead by another 8 points to earn a decisive victory, finishing 21.72 points ahead of Oxford. A mighty roar went through the crowd as it was confirmed that Cambridge had secured their 9th consecutive Varsity win. Raghul and Brandon were also the top lifters of the day, with 91.04 and 89.32 points respectively, and Charlie finished third with 88.16.
Raghul extends his thanks to Beatrice Fishwick for her support as Women’s Captain, Samin Moghimiasl (President) for managing the event whilst also lifting, all the helpers and spectators who made the event a success, and of course to the Men’s Team for doing the damn thing.
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This year, for the first time the Powerlifting Varsity was split into two equal teams of men and women, and it was time to show off that these girls can. After the disruptions caused by the pandemic, for much of the Women’s team it was not only their first Varsity, but their first ever official competition. Thanks to a great team of handlers and dev squad coaches, the girls faced the day with grit - at this point special thanks must go to Suzanne Goulder, Lucy Hart and Luke Rogers for their expertise as they supported and managed the team in the run up to the competition and on the day.
After the weigh-in, it was time to rehydrate, fuel up, and get into the competition mindset. The squats were off to a good start, with all of the Cambridge girls in the first flight getting all of their attempts. The heaviest squats from Cambridge’s side came from President Samin (62.85 BW), Women’s Captain Beatrice (61.7 BW) and Treasurer Amy (68.6 BW) who all squatted 127.5kg, missing their third attempts of 132.5 and being beaten for heaviest squat of the day by Oxford’s Isabel Dowling with 132.5kg (66.15 BW). However, despite a few missed second or third attempts in the second flight, Cambridge had snuck into the lead at the end of squats.
Now in the swing of the competition, it was time for the bench. Jane Ambler (73.75 BW) wins the award for heaviest and bendiest bench from Cambridge, managing to press a huge 85kg with a skeleton-defying arch. Only Oxford’s Women’s Captain, Sophie Smith (65.6 BW) managed to out-bench her with 87.5kg. After the bench flights, the tension mounted as we lost our 2-point-lead to find ourselves 7 points behind. However, the team remained focussed and lifted strategically, with the confidence that our side had the stronger deadlifters.
The pressure was on. Every kilo counted. This was not a time to go for risky PB’s, it was time to stick to our strategy of conservative lifting to maximise our totals and hopefully pull ahead of Oxford again. In the first flight the Cambridge girls executed their attempts well, with only one attempt being missed. However, we found that even if our women in the second flight hit all their first attempts, we would still find ourselves 6 GL points (around 30kg on the combined total) behind Oxford. Fortunately, we had more lifters in the second flight than Oxford did so we still had hope that this gap could be closed over the 2nd and 3rd attempts. Yet the drama was not over, as after the 2nd attempts we were still behind with Anna Clay (53.85 BW) at risk of bombing out. Between her steely determination and some technique points from ex-Women’s Captain Lucy, she convincingly pulled her 140kg third attempt, making her Cambridge’s strongest woman of the day with 79.09 GL points (in her first official competition too!). Cambridge was back in the game. It was now up to our final deadlifters, Samin, Lauren, Amy, and Rachel, to make their third attempts and get the win. At this point, Beatrice advised the final lifters to reduce their final deadlift attempts; a risky pull at this stage could result in the trophy just slipping out of Cambridge’s grasp. The girls did exactly as they were told, pulling for the team and the final string of deadlifts was spectacular to watch. Well done to Amy Williams (68.6 BW) and Rachel Knight (68.45 BW) who each deadlifted 160kg to be Cambridge’s biggest deadlifters of the day. After Rachel, the penultimate lifter of the day, got her three white lights, Cambridge knew they had won, even if the final lifter of the day, Sophie did successfully lift her massive 172.5kg final attempt (which she did very impressively). Just 1.6 GL points or around 7.5kg, in the lead, there was no exaggeration when I wrote that every kilo counted. As Sophie made her phenomenal final lift, cheers went round the Cambridge team in support of such impressive strength and in celebration our victory. Not only had a 9th consecutive win for Cambridge been secured, but our mark will be left on the shiny new trophy as the first victors of the Women’s Powerlifting Varsity.
I would like to extend congratulations and thanks to Men’s Captain Raghul Parthipan for achieving a ridiculous 91.04 GL points to make him Cambridge’s strongest man and overall lifter, and for being an inimitable source of knowledge and support to both his (victorious) team and to myself and the women’s team. Huge congratulations to Sophie Smith as strongest female lifter of the day (83.2 GL points) and to Anna Clay as Cambridge’s strongest woman. And finally, a thank you to East Midlands Powerlifting, all the helpers, to Krish, and to our President Samin for making the event so successful.
]]>After having successfully enticed many potential new lifters into the world of powerlifting during the online freshers’ fair, great preparations were made to deliver an online TTR session which sought to lay the foundations for the term to come. In hindsight, this may have been more useful with audio.
The weekly (in person!) SBD clinics have set many on their way on the path to perfectionism in the powerlifting movements. Indeed it is here that individuals may learn the fundamentals that may one day yield internet fame and thousands of comments about range of motion.
The once-thriving sports centre now seems a ghost of its former self and, for many, midnight no longer signals the start of a new day but an opportunity to book a power rack for the week ahead. Whilst some have resorted to slacking off their accessory work, other, more dedicated, individuals have found success with multiple bookings. Far worse, however, are the actions of those who have abandoned their integrity as powerlifters and have ventured out to train at PureGym, but arguably both the loss of dignity and ample time to contemplate their decisions whilst waiting for the curl rack are punishment enough.
Widespread restrictions have rendered it impossible to host the infamous novice comps and varsity trials - a moment of silence for those who had planned training cycles around these and it seems improbable (though not impossible) that these will go ahead this term given that we are, in fact, locked down. Likewise, the loss of British juniors is an unfortunate ending to what has already been a challenging year.
All these challenges may have been harder to bear, had it not been for our brilliant social secs - in the short spell of term so far they have entertained numerous events which have brought the CUPLC community together and all whilst maintaining social distancing!
Given that we are now once again in lockdown, one can only dream of what it must be like to have access to comp standard equipment in their garage, but for most of us it is exactly that; a dream.
Overall, despite the challenges we have faced this term it hasn’t been without positives. CUPLC has continued to grow as a club and a community with many eager new members, we have managed to continue to deliver TTR sessions and further expanded to online form checks and, most importantly, the average work capacity of the CUPLC member has increased with the 1 and a quarter-hour slots at the uni gym. I don’t know what the rest of term has in store for us, but given the on-off, start-stop way this year has gone, I am both hopeful and excited to see what comes of it.
Disclaimer: Although I find it hard to believe that my views on PureGym are not universally shared, the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect those of CUPLC. I do, however, hope you found some enjoyment in reading this.
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