Show of Strength by BIC

Next month the Bournemouth International Centre (BIC) shows its strength as it plays host to the British Powerlifting Championships 2009 on Saturday 4th and Sunday 5th July. 70 of the country’s strongest athletes will descend on Bournemouth for the two day competition which will showcase phenomenal strength, determination and skill with impressive 1000lb squats and 600lb bench presses!

The competition will take place in the BIC’s Tregonwell Hall and Sunday will see the toughest ever battle for the sought after gold medal in the 75kg class. Local defending champion Lee Gordon from Poole will go head to head with former Hungarian Champion and World Silver Medallist, Andreas Csiszar. Former Junior World Champion, Lee Cutler, also from Dorset is the former British Champion for the 75kg class but has moved up to the 82.5kg (13 stone) Division. He faces a tough class of competitors, including former British and World Champions.

There will be substantial local interest in the contest as local Southbourne resident, Janine Murphy, will defend the title she won last year; Women’s 75kg Division. She holds the British Record in the squat, with a lift of over 400lbs, nearly 30 stone, and the local former kickboxing champion is a clear favourite to win.

Steve Turner, Entertainment Programming Manager at the BIC said: “We’ve hosted the British Powerlifting Championship before; the event showcases our flexibility as a venue and our heavyweight status. We are hosting the World Powerlifting Championships for the first time in November this year, which will be filmed by Sky.”

The heavier divisions are packed with the best lifting talent ever seen on a British lifting platform. So much so that for a Bronze medal in the 90kg class, it is likely that the lifter will need to list ten times his or her own body weight! The best bench presser in this class is a junior lifter who has lifted 300kg in the discipline, a weight that remained a World Record in the Super Heavyweight (SHW) Division for nearly 20 years!

The high point of the competition should see a new World record in the Super Heavyweight Division by Andy Bolton, six times World SHW Champion, world record holder in the squat (550.5kg) and the first and only ever man in history to dead lift over 1000lbs. Andy secured national media coverage and is generally recognised as the strongest athlete in the world. His next goal is to cross the 3000lb total barrier.

Organiser of the event and National Coach and trainer of several World Strongest Man competitors, Brian Batcheldor, adds: “Powerlifting is often the route athletes take before entering the World’s Strongest Man competition and the weekends lifting will demonstrate feats of strength that the public will never get the chance to see outside of a World Championships. Bringing the standard of British lifting to this level has been part of a 10 year game plan because this year the World competition is to be held on British soil, here in Bournemouth, and we intend to win the team trophy and establish ourselves as the strongest nation on earth.”

The World Championships will feature hundreds of top lifters from across the globe, including the US, Russia, Ukraine, Finland and several African countries. It will attract thousands of die hard fans to Bournemouth, establishing the town as a top sporting destination. The event is also being held in conjunction with Children in Need, with the majority of lifters being sponsored per kg to raise funds for children’s charities.