On Saturday, we held the APL Drug Tested Christmas Cup with a $2,000 prize pool.
We wanted to do something exciting and it definitely got exciting.
An afternoon/evening meet with delicious Brisket and Pulled Pork provided by our neighbours Cue and Crew and some very competitive lifting.
We had three flights with the third flight put together of the top Male and Female lifters coming into the day.
Lifters started strong in squats with Sam Russo and Chauntelle Rakebrandt coming through with some big lifts including a 135kg pb for Chauntelle in Flight A. The boys also came out of the blocks firing with some big squats from Luke Cutler, Duane Fabian, Chrisjan finishing off with a 330kg attempt from Blake Walker. Flight C also featured some big squats from Ijesha with 162.5kg and 155kg from Carlie to stay in the mix on DOT’s.
Moving into bench we had all competitors pushing their limits with a lot of failed lifts on their thirds. Some beautiful benching from Alex Kassis getting all three lifts put him into a very strong position entering deadlifts. Mark Roskell had a shaky start bench failing his first two attempts but just managing to get two whites on his third to keep him in the running for a place finish.
Deadlifts were exceptional.
Both Sam Russo and Chauntelle Rakebrandt came flying under the radar nailing all three deads to put themselves 3rd and 4th for the girls. Other’s of paticular note in the girls were Ray Godbier and Kellie Botham both chipping away at national records. Lyn Whippy nailed a 170kg for the biggest deadlift of the day for the females.
In the men, Brendon Rawnsley had a successful outing nailing his 3rd of 230kg to finish with a strong total.
In the end it all came down to Flight C and wow it got spicy.
Carlie Hasell nailed her first two deadlifts to secure the win in the girls, Ijesha pulled her opener to secure second and had a fantastic effort at 165kg but it just wasn’t there.
Amy Campbell had been solid all day, but was unlucky on bench, failing her last two attempts, to not come into deadlifts with a bigger subtotal, leaving her in 5th place. After making her first two deads, it all came down to her 3rd attempt with a big 157.5kg attempt to try and snatch back 3rd spot from Sam Russo. Unfortunately it wasn’t there for her on the day.
In the men, Blake Walker ragdolled 290kg to secure 1st place both in the mens and overall, Duane Fabian cracked his first two attempts of deadlift to secure 2nd place and it all came down to the last attempts for third place in the end finishing with 3 dots point between 3rd and 5th.
Alex Kassis had made his first deadlift to put himself into third place but it was all to play for with Luke Cutler and Mark Roskell breathing down his neck. Luke was solid making all three attempts but not able to get the numbers needed to take third. With Alex then failing his last two attempts on Deads, Mark wanted to finish strong and put in a 30kg jump from his second to third attempt to have a crack at taking third spot. It was a valiant effort but just couldn’t get it up on this occasion.
It was an amazing afternoon proving that powerlifting can be exciting as well impressive. Thank you to all the spectators, spotters/loaders, judges and lifters for being part of something special.
Final Top 5
Men
1. Blake Walker – 456.274 Dots – $500 + $400 for overall
2. Duane Fabian – 429.27 Dots – $200
3. Alex Cassis – 413.016 Dots – $100
4. Luke Cutler – 411.783 dots
5. Mark Roskell – 410.937 dots
Women
1. Carlie Hasell – 437.92 Dots – $500
2. Ijesha Goerlach – 402.886 Dots – $200
3. Sam Russo – 388.462 Dots – $100
4. Chauntelle Rakebrandt – 382.961 Dots
5. Amy Campbell – 382.339 Dots