This year CUPLC’s masters athletes have been putting in the work. Despite their creaking joints and sore backs, they still manage to show up and get it done.
Bench Nationals and English Bench Press Championships 2025
Our freshly minted M1 athlete Sophie took home the gold medal in the 76 kg M1 category at the English Bench Press Championships held at Moulton College, Northampton, and the bronze medal at Bench Nationals in Cardiff.
A back injury in 2024 meant that it was bench-only for the time being, and she might as well take this opportunity to get as huge as possible. She qualified for both Nationals and English with 62.5 kg at the Anglian Bench Championships in late 2024. She spent the next few months with a serious case of FAFO and got nowhere, chasing 65 kg like a dog chasing its tail.
Cardiff was her first national comp so the only goal here was to enjoy the experience - she made podium and got invited to join the GB squad.
After no progress in the last 6 months she hired CUPLC alumnus Charlie as her coach. Things were looking up. Unfortunately a rib injury, a mystery virus and a trip to A&E the week prior to the English didn’t do much for her comp prep.
Coach Charlie managed to sort out the warmup and attempt strategy and she just clinched first place with 62.5 kg.
East Midlands Masters and Novices Championships 2025
Nik joined CUPLC in October with many years of experience as a gymbro. Realising that he should probably start training legs, he set out with one goal: get a squat bigger than his bench. After some persuading he learnt what progressive overload was and decided to give it a go. And what a go it was, he made some huge gains in his first few months and decided to enter his first comp in April in the 83 kg M1 category.
We all know your first comp should be chill, but this wasn’t Nik’s style. He wanted to qualify for Bench Nationals in 2026 which meant hitting a huge bench of 130 kg. He loaded 125 kg as a quick primer - a few of the other lifters in his flight thought it was some mistake. But no, this flew up so he went for 130 kg as his second and nailed that too. A quick look at the qualifying amount for the class above meant he’d need to load 137.5 kg. What’s the worst that could happen? Better to have tried and failed than to wonder ‘what if’, so that’s what he loaded. Some hushed whispers from the stands as people thought he’d made another mistake with his attempt selection.
137.5 kg turned out to be the grind of his life. New grey hairs sprouted in the 84 years it took to press out. But he DID press it out, giving him one of the biggest benches of the whole comp.
Nik admits his squat could still use some work, but a solid deadlift of 200 kg means he’s a gymbro no more. Well done Nik, CUPLC are proud of you.
European Masters Classic Powerlifting Championships
Dave is one of the older CUPLC alumni, from a time of spit and sawdust at Fenners only spoken about in hushed tones within the palatial walls of the University Sports Centre. Legend has it if you say ‘Squat’ seven times in the mirror, then he will appear.
He started his year in February with a strong showing at Europeans with a silver, once again the bridesmaid to Jani from Finland. Jani hails from the town of Oulu, where it reaches very sub-zero temperatures in February, and with no direct flights from anywhere sensible, clearly there’s no way 2026 Euros would be held there to give Jani a home advantage next time. Ah wait…Although ‘disappointed’ with the jury’s view on his depth, Dave did manage to extend his squat World Record, then follow up with a bench PB for a total PB at international level.
Next up is British Masters in June where he hopes to continue getting stronger through his 40s and hit more PB on the way to retaining his title of Best Male Lifter from 2024. After that will be Worlds in October, once again South Africa but this time Cape Town, where Dave aims to finally topple Jani!
Squat, squat, squat, squat, squat, squat, squ…
