Almost 20 amateurs tried their hand at competition lifting event at the Sapphire Coast Barbell gym. 

Organiser and trainer Dan Dakis said it was great to see a good number of entrants enjoy successful lifts with support from their families. 

“I think the pressure people experience in a competition is put on by themselves,” Dakis said. 

“They want to go past what they’ve done before, but having friends and family watch helps rally them to reach those expectations. 

“There is a lot of camaraderie and they are driven by the environment.”

A solid crowd of family and friends were on hand to cheer on entrants as they bench-pressed and squatted some huge weights.

All the competitors matched or bettered their personal bests on the day, while many had never competed in the sport. 

“A lot of people who lifted yesterday [Sunday] had never trained before.”

Dakis was also impressed by the strong competition from women, with some of the girls upstaging the boys. 

“There are a lot of strong girls lifting. 

“Nerae [Peters] and Laureen [Kelly] are tremendously strong.”

Peters won the women’s division, which is calculated by body weight, not just weights lifted. 

Dakis said new members are always welcome at his gym, which he said was aimed at strength and conditioning. 

“Everyone who trains here gets coached and they get taught how to train while supervised,” Dakis said. 

You can contact Dan Dakis at Sapphire Coast Barbell on 0428 753 024.

Sunday's  winners were Nik Stone with a 180 kg squat, 140kg bench, 210kg deadlift and a 530kg total weighing 104kg.

Second place was Vince Pook with a 475kg total, made up of 150 squat, 125 bench and 200kg deadlift weighing 107kg.

Third place was Connor Llewellyn with 145 squat 100 bench and 187.5kg deadlift, 432.5kg total weighing 85.1kg.

" For the girls we had Nerae Peters in first with a 87.5kg squat 50 bench, 110 deadlift and 247.5kg total weighing 76kg," Dakis said. 

Second was Loureen Kelly with 92.5kg squat, 60 bench, 110 deadlift and 262.5kg total weighing 88.1kg.

Third place was Jill Foord with a 65kg squat, 45kg bench, 90kg deadlift and 200kg total weighing 65.2kg.