RECAP: The VWA’s first novice comp of 2019

This past weekend we saw the first official Victorian Weightlifting Association (VWA) novice comp of 2019. The 12 lifters — five female and seven male — competed in a single co-ed session. There were a total of three clubs represented, plus three independent athletes.

There were a few standout performances from these rookie competitors. The most notable were Tamzin Hare and Brendan Sharpe — the pair who won best overall lifters for the day. Tamzin and Brendan lift together out of a Goodlife gym, along with a small crew of new lifters. 

With Brendan snatching 100kg and clean & jerking 120kg, and Tamzin going 56/75, the future for these two athletes is bright. We certainly hope to see them back out on the platform again soon.

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COMP DAY RECAP ⬇️⬇️⬇️ Yesterday we participated for the first time as Eastern Weightlifting Club which is pretty damn exciting! Managed to hit 55/75 out there which is consistent with my previous competition in July. In between having 2 week holiday in Hawaii, a sinus infection and then getting sick again with a cold I still managed to bring out what I did yesterday and that’s something upon reflection, I’m pretty happy with. Not every day is a good day and that’s okay 💪🏼🏋🏼‍♀️ Thank you to my coach @sharpephysiology and teammate @jacobsanderson for the support leading up and on the day. Our little weightlifting community we are building is so exciting. Both of these guys lifted yesterday and did so well and I’m so proud of them. Thank you to my closeknit support group of family and friends for the messages of support and for coming to watch yesterday too! It all means the world. Thanks @coach_casement_s.e.f.s for supporting everything I do and as always loving me even when all I do is eat, work, train and sleep – real lift sloth 90% of the time. 10% training 🤷🏼‍♀️😂❤️ #loveu Thanks to @themethodnow @alice_tuckercf and my new coach @simonejanearthur for taking care of my nutrition and being a fabulous support crew! Thanks @trueformtherapies for keeping my body working and moving like it’s supposed to 💪🏼 Thanks @victorian_weightlifting for another fantastic competition and for giving me the opportunity to MC my first event too! I had heaps of fun. I think I was more nervous for the MC role than I was to lift 🤣🤣 Congratulations to all the other lifters out there yesterday as well. You’re all incredible lifters and a lot of these guys and girls were Masters athletes so it’s pretty damn impressive! 🏋🏼‍♀️💪🏼 What’s next?? Time to eat a little more food & fill out a little more for my weight class (I’ve got 3kg to play with), train a little harder and turn weaknesses into strengths.

A post shared by Tamzin Hare (@ptbytamzin) on Sep 14, 2019 at 5:38pm PDT

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bz2dCSgB0X8/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Another great story to come out of the day was from Controlled Chaos Weightlifting, which had a total of seven lifters compete within the session (for six of them, it was their first official competition). 

For Muntarzir Mehdi, it was his first competition in over 10 years after moving to Melbourne from Pakistan. Muntarzir competed as a junior athlete in Pakistan growing up and was lucky enough to compete at the national level and train alongside some of the best in his home country. 

The novice comp provided the perfect opportunity for Muntarzir to get back out onto the platform after a very long hiatus, and to rediscover the sport that he loved. Muntarzir is already looking forward to his next official competition, where he plans to nail that 84kg snatch that he so nearly made on Saturday.

Running novice events helps grow the sport by enticing new, nervous lifters to take to the platform. If you are interested in competing or would like to know how to get involved please contact the VWA for more information.