Record numbers for SBB’s 2017 novice competition

April 8^th saw Swindon Barbell club open its doors once again to beginner strength competitors keen to push their limits and test their boundaries.

The club received 17 competitors throughout the day split into 2 groups; a morning group that featured Females and Juniors with the afternoon group featuring the adult male category.

Swindon Barbell has been providing after school and college clubs to various educational centres in the surrounding area including New College, Royal Wootton Bassett Academy, Lackham College and Cirencester College.  Many of these students attending the competition either as spectators or competitors including Freya Killick, aged 17 from Dorcan, who has recently become a ‘This Girl Can Campaign’ representative and has worked alongside Swindon Barbell to raise the profile of female sports in Wiltshire and Gloucester.

The competition was based on points meaning that males and females of all body weight categories could compete against each other in a fair manner.  Each competition allows competitors 3 attempts at the Squat, Bench Press and Deadlift.  The best attempt of each lift is taken and added together to create their total and thus their points.

Nick 75k squat

The morning featured some of Swindon Barbell’s own members including Helen Witcombe, Freya Killick and Marie Morrisey.  Helen, who had surgery on her knee in the summer of 2016, has been very determined in her come back to optimum health and strength.  Freya, who is very active in many sports including netball, tried Powerlifting

Marie 92.5k Squat

for the first time through our open day in January and has loved every second of her training and development.  Whereas Marie came to Swindon Barbell having already taken up strength training to have the coaches support and guide her through good technique and practice of the lifts and the Gold medal indicates she has something very special within her.

 

Morning Group
Name	Age Cat	Best Squat	Best Bench	Sub-total	Best Deadlift	Total	Wilks Points	Place
Marie Morrisey	U23	90	45	135	107.5	242.5	280.621	1
Helen Witcombe	Senior	77.5	50	127.5	95	222.5	223.123	2
Becky Holt	Senior	87.5	47.5	135	115	250	198.675	3
Freya Killick	U18	65	32.5	97.5	90	187.5	189.375	4
Nicholas Szymanska	U18	80	70	150	95	245	172.064	5

 

Freya 85k Deadlift

 

Afternoon Group
Name	Age Cat	Best Squat	Best Bench	Sub-total	Best Deadlift	Total	Wilks Points	Place
Alex Noble	Senior	160	130	290	225	515	339.951	1
Tom Sharp	Senior	170	140	310	190	500	302.300	2
Jody Carvel	Senior	122.5	87.5	210	175	385	286.632	3
Oliver March	Senior	150	117.5	267.5	185	452.5	284.125	4
Elliot Street	U20	150	95	245	170	415	272.489	5
Rob Jeffries	Senior	135	92.5	227.5	170	397.5	252.373	6
Ryan Wakelan	Senior	125	80	205	155	360	232.956	7
Matthew Percy	M1	120	72.5	192.5	125	317.5	211.645	8
Paul Humphries	M1	92.5	70	162.5	115	277.5	173.882	9

 

The afternoon saw a larger amount of contestant including Swindon Barbell’s own Paul Humphries, who joined the club after visiting for an open evening in January this year and has continued to grow in both strength and health through seeing a drop in his body fat, an increase in his energy levels as well as developing a good physique.

Ryan Wakelan, who regularly trains in the novice class that is held on a Tuesday and Thursday night each week, is part of a local Bicycle riding club and wanted to turn his hand at another one of his passions with good results.

Elliot Street, Nick Szymanski and Rob Jefferies both started training through the New College Powerlifting club, which is produced by Swindon Barbell.  Elliot began training with Coach Charlie Shotton-Gale in 2015 through New College and has developed phenomenally well since allowing him to place 5^th even though he was a Junior whilst Nick, who was unable to perform any kind of stable Powerlift movement when he joined in 2016, surprised even himself with his growth and achievements hitting personal bests across all 3 lifts.

The bronze medal went to Derby’s Jody Carvel who is currently trained by Britain’s strongest female (pound for pound) Ellie Steele who said of Jody “he couldn’t believe he had won Bronze medal, he is buzzing and so happy”.

The silver medal went to Tom Sharp who started training with Coach Charlie in 2014 and has since grown in strength, technique and confidence.  Tom joined the novice class this year and started training, for the first time, with other strength athletes which only accelerated his confidence changes leading him to apply for this novice competition.  Tom has said “winning silver means more than you can imagine” and he is looking harder at applying for his first affiliated competition.  “I have always seen Tom’s strength and potential; I have urged him for a long time to test out his abilities amongst his peers.  However, as a coach, you must allow people to develop at a pace that suits them, enhances their skills and confidence whilst also challenges them in the right balance.”

The gold medal went to Cardiff’s Alex Noble who was coached by Jacob Dowes – coach to Britain’s record holder Sabrina Moore.  Alex had a solid performance in squat and bench but blew everyone away with his incredible deadlift.

Bels 95k Deadlift

These results, and the stories behind them, are exactly why Swindon Barbell spend so much time and effort in putting on novice competitions to allow people to test their boundaries and push their limits, to grow as a person and as a strength athlete but, more importantly, to show them that they are more than even they believe they could be.

Although not featured in the results, two competitors had their first competition as Equipped Powerlifters, meaning they wore supportive apparel that enhances the strength potential of each lift, although makes it far more challenging due to the organisation of the equipment and the pain each person is in from the restrictive manner of the equipment.

Luke Evans, a Swindon Barbell member who sought out the club specifically for equipped lifting support, and Fenella Powell, who has been supported and coached in Bristol by Christie Civetta.  Both lifters were able to manage the heat, the pain, the weight of the bar and the stresses of competing to achieve incredible totals and many personal bests for themselves.  They were not able to be included in the competition because the supportive nature of the equipment means they can lift more weight than they would without it, giving equipped lifters an advantage over classic lifters.

Many of the competitors have now signed up as members of British Powerlifting and are looking forward to their first ever official Powerlifting competition this year.  Those who have decided not to sign up just yet are looking to in the future as they are focusing on developing themselves further before they want to test their boundaries once more, a sensible and healthy decision for many novice strength sports participants.

Swindon Barbell is now open every weekday evening, due to the success of the novice classes and the schools/colleges Powerlifting clubs.  If you are thinking of giving it a go the novice classes run Tuesdays and Thursdays 6-7pm at Swindon Barbell Clubhouse near Lyneham with the classes costing only £5 each.

Swindon Barbell would like to thank Helen Toms for organising this competition and to all the volunteers that made sure it ran smoothly and efficiently:

Referees = Helen Toms, Christie Civetta, Dawn Morrell.

Score Keeper = Iszy Mckerracher

Spotters and Loaders = Matt Watson, Tony Humphreys, Dave Thomas, Yasmina Couty

Warm up room coaches = Charlie Shotton-Gale, Ben Grey, Dan Massarella.