Selection for the Cambridge Women’s Powerlifting Varsity team this year was highly competitive. After our British Powerlifting sanctioned Trials competition in December, it was clear that we were going to give Oxford a run for their money in our attempt to regain our 13 year long winning streak.
This year, the format of the Varsity competition changed to allow all 12 team members to compete, rather than having 10 team members and 2 reserves. Returning team members from last year included Margherita Parimbelli, Louise Pickenhan, Emma Cohen (CUPLC Secretary) and Jenny Lin (CUPLC Women’s Captain). Unfortunately, Margherita became injured one week out from competition, but we were lucky enough to have Udoka Okonkwo substitute for her.
Varsity was held in Cambridge this year, and the competition was split into a morning session starting at 10am and an afternoon session starting at 2pm, with 6 lifters from both Oxford and Cambridge competing in each. Our morning lifters started the day off with a bang, finishing with a 70.15 GoodLift point lead over Oxford. Our very own Louise Pickenhan finished with 88.01GL points, the highest of the session.
A notable performance came from Sophie Fallon, who hit a 42.5kg competition PB of 342.5kg in the u69kg class, easily qualifying her for the British University Championships in April. Ameerah Saliu also hit a huge comp PB of 337.5kg in the u69kg class, also qualifying her for BUCS. Saskia Johnson, Udoka Okonkwo and Ilona Myllyniemi all hit massive comp PBs, demonstrating months of hard work in preparation for Varsity. Ilona won the u76kg class, taking a 7.5kg lead over second place.
The 70.15 GL lead we had on Oxford gave the afternoon lifters a huge confidence boost going into the later session. The standards were high, with Oxford boasting two lifters with international singlets: Gwen Marsden and Rhonda Tse. However, Cambridge also brought out two of their own international lifters: Isabel Dowling, who recently competed at the World University Powerlifting Cup and World Bench Championships, and Jenny Lin, who competed previously at the Sub-Junior World and European Championships.
The afternoon session was close between the two teams, but Cambridge managed to maintain a steady, although modest lead, over Oxford. Our very own Viola Clark (Stash Officer) extended her regional bench press record that she had previously set at Varsity Trials not once, but twice in the u57kg Open class. She finished up with 85.5kg in the bench press, a huge 1.5x bodyweight lift. In addition to this, Viola won the u57kg weight class and earned a half-blue qualification with a 360.5kg total. Issy Dowling finished with a 440kg total, equating to 92.14 GL points, which won her the u69kg class and second-best female lifter overall. This also earned her a full blue qualification. After Varsity, Issy also competed at the British Bench Championships in Kent, earning her a spot on Team GB at the World Bench Press Championships later on this year.
All of our afternoon lifters qualified for BUCS. Gisele Walker added 7.5kg to her competition total from Varsity Trials and won the u84kg class with 405kg, while Jenny Lin added 12.5kg to her competition total to total 370kg in the u69kg class, which also qualified her for Junior Nationals. Emma Cohen pulled a huge 150kg deadlift for her second attempt in the u63kg class and narrowly missed out on 160kg for her third attempt, while Asha Scott hit a 72.5kg bench for her second attempt, which qualified her for the English Bench Championships in April, but narrowly missed out on 77.5kg for her third. Jenny Lin and Gisele Walker also qualified for the English Bench Press Championships with 77.5kg and 92.5kg respectively, and will both be competing alongside Asha in attempts to qualify for the Commonwealth Championships later on this year in Canada.
Overall, the Cambridge Women’s team finished with 638.55 GL points spread across our top 8 lifters, while the Oxford Women’s team finished with 615.70 GL points spread across their top 8 lifters. This meant a Cambridge victory with a 22.85 GL lead, winning us back the Women’s trophy and contributing to our overall (Men & Women) win with a combined 89.13GL point lead over Oxford. After BUCS, British Championships and English Championships, the team will be looking to reclaim victory at Iffley Road Sports Centre in Oxford next year.
