Records tumble at weightlifting championships

Press, 14 October 1985, Page 3

Records tumble at weightlifting championships

PA Wellington New Zealand records fell at the Cowans-sponsored fiftieth jubilee national weightlifting championships at the weekend. Four records were in the snatch, among Mike Bernard (Auckland), Allister Nalder (Nelson), Kevin Blake (Auckland), and Clayton Chelley (Nelson). The four, and Kevin Judson (Waikato), are strong medal prospects for the 1986 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh. The championships, under lights of a television studio at Avalon, also proved New Zealand should have been represented at the world championships last month in Sweden. Bernard, aged 28, raised a broad smile when bettering Nalder’s snatch record by Ikg with 146 kg in the 82.5 kg division. With a 182.5 kg clean and jerk and a competition-re-gistered 145 kg snatch, the Western Samoan-born lifter totalled 327.5 kg to add 2.5 kg to Nalder’s previous record. This gives Bernard a clean sweep of the 82.5 kg record — he already holds the clean and jerk record with 183 kg. Chelley, aged 22, was the true star of the meeting.

In a special fourth attempt Chelley almost effortlessly added Ikg to the record of 145 kg held by the three-times Commonwealth Games champion, George Newton, in the 60kg class snatch. Nalder, aged 29, jumped under the bar too soon in his first snatch attempt at 150 kg in the 90kg division but he made no mistake in the next to better his record of 147.5 kg. In the clean and jerk he had to accept 180 kg and his total of 330 kg was only 2.5 kg shy of John Bolton’s mark after being disqualified with 185 kg on the bar. Blake, aged 24, scrubbed another Bolton record from the book in adding o.skg in the 100 kg division, snatching 155.5 kg. Kevin Judson (Waikato) was looking for 300 kg six weeks ago but he was out of touch at the championships though he still managed 272.5 kg to win the 75kg division. Other young lifters to show out were Phil Jenner (Nelson) who took second placing in the 82.5 kg division with 257.5 kg (and finished 2.5 kg ahead of the experienced Aucklander, Peter Appleby, and Chris Wong (Auckland) who totalled 227.5 kg for fifth placing in the 75kg division.