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Greater London Powerlifting Championships 2007
With a
number of our regular lifters taking time out from competition, British
Barbell only entered two lifters into this year's divisional
championships at Crystal Palace National Sports Centre. However,
that being said there were a further six members at the competition,
including Club Secretary Rebecca Yeoh Refereeing.
Ben Banks was competing in the 110kg class, the largest class of the day with four lifters, and Faisal Ahmed Spaul was lifting in the 125kg. Both lifters are still Juniors, but given that this was an open competition they were facing London's finest! This was Spaul's first full competition, and as such he had set all of his openers quite low.
After some
strong warm-ups Spaul went out and lifted a comfortable opening squat of
180kg, he then raised the bar to 200kg, matching his best lift at the
South East Squat Championships. Sinking the weight to a good depth, the
lift came up smoothly but not as easy as he would have hoped; but
unfortunately in his haste he racked the bar slightly before signalled
to by the referee, invalidating the lift. In the final round, taking the
same weight, he was forced to work a bit harder to c
Meanwhile
in the 110kg class, there was three-way battle to take the lead in the
squat, Ben lifted a comfortable opener of 270kg, before moving on to
290kg, a competition best. Ben was being chased by another Junior, Guy
DjeDje who jumped to a successful 270kg for his second lift. Ben sunk
290kg to a good depth before rising reasonably smoothly to lockout, to
receive three white lights. Ben then went to 310kg, a big competition
best, and potentially allowing him to move ahead of Sam Harrison,
leading the class with his opening squat of 300kg, before failing on
315kg on depth for his second. In the final round, Guy took 290kg to
match Ben's second round attempt (at a lighter bodyweight), but after
rising with the weight, received red lights for his depth. Ben stepped
up to take 310kg for his final attempt, and after a strong take out,
lifted the weight reasonably comfortably, though not as depth as his
previous attempts, received three whites lights from the judges. He was
followed by Sam, who this time managed to sati
Following
the squats both Ben and Spaul prepared for the Bench Press, however in
the busy warm-up room, the commentator's announcements were missed, and
unfortunately Spaul was timed out on his opening attempt of 100kg; not a
good start! For the next round Spaul stayed with 100kg, but after some
delay from the referees, Spaul started the lift before receiving the
signal, so despite lifting the weight very easily, failed the lift. For
his final attempt, needing this lift to stay in the competition, he
opted to rise the bar to 120kg. This time he left no doubts,
waiting an extra two or three seconds after the referees signal to
start, just to make sure, he lowered the bar smoothly down to his chest,
before driving the weight strongly to lockout. Spaul rec
In the
110kg Class, Ben opened up with a new British Junior Record of 231kg;
lifting the weight comfortably. For his second attempt, he took a big
jump to 253.5kg, to challenge the British Senior Record. Despite looking
strong at the start of the lift, he let the bar drift out of line, and
the weight ground to a halt half way through the lift. Taking the weight
again for his final attempt, he had run out of steam, and despite
hitting his line, got stuck in a similar position. Still with his
opening lift of 231kg, this moved him 21kg ahead of the field with the
next best lift of 205k
Progressing onto the last phase of the competition, though slightly disheartened, Spaul demolished his opening lift of 160kg on the deadlift, and also lifted a strong second attempt of 180kg. For his final lift, he attempted 200kg, a personal best, and after a strong pull off the floor, he eased the weight towards lockout. But on replacing the weight after a quick down signal from the Chief Referee, he had failed to satisfy the side referees with his lockout. This was very unfortunate, as he may have been able to complete the lift if he had stayed with the weight just a little bit longer.
Spaul's
lifting took the title in the 125kg class and he finished the day with a
total of 480kg, lower than he had hoped for, but with some very strong
lifting. I am sure once he becomes more accustomed to competition
technique and overcomes his competition nerves, he will be able to
better this performance considerably. Spaul's lifting is especially
impressive, given that he has just finished fasting f
In the next weight class down, Ben extended his lead with his opening deadlift of 290kg, before putting the championships out of reach, with a 310kg deadlift. For his final attempt of 325kg, he had run out of steam and failed to get the weight above his knees.
Ben won the 110kg class with an 851kg total, beating the second place by 51kg. Ben's lifting also earned him the very impressive Eddie Pengelly Memorial Cup for Best Lifter.
Videos of Ben's Lifts (Thanks to Ed) Please note that the videos below are sourced from an external site, and may prompt you to view further videos from their website. British Barbell has no connection with any subsequent videos, and their content should not be considered any reflection on the Club. 310kg Squat 231kg Bench Press 253.5kg Bench Press Attempt 310kg Deadlift ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
omplete
the lift, causing him to go off balance, and lose his footing. Failing
the lift twice on technicalities was very frustrating, but still he was
on the scoreboard with his opening lift and progressed onto the bench
press.
sfy
the judges with his depth at 315kg, allowing him to take the led after
the squats.
eived
three white lights, and stayed in the competition.
g
from Sam Harrison.
or
Ramadan; training hard through this period and still competing, are a
tribute to his commitment to the sport and show signs of a future
champion...