The day after comp, Blaine and Nick grab a quick pic during Monday training

During their time in Melbourne, USA powerlifters and Pacific Invitational stars Nick Tylutki and Blaine Sumner dropped by the club to say “Hi” and to check out the facilities. Nick, a Minnesota police officer and member of Brad Gillingham’s legendary Jackal’s Gym team, dominated a 295kg raw squat and just missed the world record on 310kg in the 105kg class. Weighing in just a whisker under 160kg, big Blaine from Colorado managed to go one better, smashing world records with an unbelievable 400kg raw squat and 932.5kg raw total!

Before the comp, Nick drops by for some light training, then heads off to his first AFL match!

Both are great guys as well as great lifters, signing t-shirts, thanking the volunteers, even offering to help pack up some of the gear and were very complimentary about the club and its members. The fact that the best in the business were impressed by the training set up we’ve got in the HWR, reminds all of us at the MUWPC, that we’ve got a lot to be
thankful for!

David Jame
MUWPC President

A Huge, Massive, Enormous THANK-YOU to all the helpers for the 2012 Raw Nationals and Pacific Invitational! Especially to the Melbourne Uni volunteer army that always shows up to make sure the job gets done, no matter what the size. I know there are still chalk bowls, a dais and odds and ends still in members’ cars/utes, but 95% of the gear was stowed by Monday night and that is an awesome effort considering I say there was over 3 tonnes to move! There were the usual heroes going well above and beyond the call of duty and some new faces who really stepped up to join the ranks as club legends. I dare not mention names for fear of leaving someone out and because there were so many, but you know who you are and on behalf of the MUWPC, every lifter I’ve spoken to and I’m sure Robert as meet director and PA, I sincerely thank-you all for helping put on a truly marvellous show, it couldn’t have happened without you!!!

David Jame
MUWPC President

After Percy’s, the dedicated amongst us wandered down Lygon St to a nondescript sports bar for the inevitable post Christmas Party pool comp. Defending champ Sean Connelley seemed to be odds-on for the victory, but bowed out in the semi finals. The grand final saw David Jame and Chris Seville battling it out for the honours. The match was tight, but a low-percentage play from David with both players on the black cost him the championship. Congratulations must however go to Chris, who capped off a record-breaking year with this hard-fought pool title.

After such a stellar 2011, it really is exciting to think what 2012 may hold in store for MUWPC.

This follows on from Brad Gillingham, who dropped by before delivering his amazing WR performance at last year’s Nationals/Pacific Invitational, it’s a privilege to have such legends of the sport as guests of the club – hopefully they wear their T-shirts with fond memories of their time in Melbourne!

A few photos from the evening:

Dave Platzer dresses for the occasion.

A few drinks and some banter before the meals arrive.

Trying to keep up with Platz’s level of sophistication.

Three of the Club’s (and P.A.’s) most valued volunteers: Con, Sean and Simon. All gave countless hours and some seriously hard labour to the event. I think the phrase is: Enough rope to…

Pre-match favourite David Jame had been busily talking down his chances leading up to the Classic, but it didn’t bode well for the rest of the field when he arrived wearing personally monogrammed golfing attire. It’s not often that he’s accused of being ill prepared for a comp, and Saturday was no exception as it also emerged that he’d played the Royal Park course only days before.

Nevertheless, a competition it was. Tee off was at 1030 with no complaints from other golfers Big Chris Schaerf, Chris “Sev” Seville, David Platzer, David Northcott, and MUWPC emeritus Al Baille. In the first group with David, Sev and Al were straight out of the blocks. The pair had everyone looking over their shoulders for the ensuing nine holes.

Meanwhile in the second group, things were less elite. Northcott clearly thought he’d signed up for a picnic, arriving in a straw hat with a bag of apples and tree nuts. Big Chris brought his ice-cool demeanour which did produce flashes of brilliance. On the whole though, a very truthful self-assessment concluded that he’ll be ‘working on his elevation‘ moving forward. Finally, Platzer somehow managed to have the best round of his life but never challenged the pros in group one.

With Sev, Al and David playing out of their skins all day, no one was surprised when the result was a nail-biter. The winner by one stroke… David Jame! Sev was gracious as ever in accepting second place, while Al was two strokes back for third. And so it was that our President David Jame can deservingly add to his trophy cabinet with the achievement of 2011 MUWPC Golf Champion. For those that couldn’t make the event we’ll likely be playing again soon, although Mr Jame’s title can’t be challenged until 2012.

FULL RESULTS
David Jame +6
Chris Seville +7
Al Baille +8
David Platzer +14
Chris Schaerf +30
David Northcott +30
Longest Drive: David Jame, 245 metres
Closest to pin: David Jame, 5 metres
Best dressed: David Platzer

Regards,
David Platzer
Social Coordinator

The natural order of the World was restored at the 2011 Australian Championships, with Melbourne University regaining the men’s team title after it had been snatched by the Queensland University pretenders in 2010. Another verity also asserted itself in the running of the Championships, with Melbourne Uni people doing almost all of the set up, spotting and so on. Once again Sean The Penniless, Con Barbakos and Simon The Likeable soaked up blow after blow and came back begging for more.

On to the lifting and Nghiep Luu showed the irrational zeal of the convert, lifting Raw in a determined show of futility. Nghiep was rewarded with a meaningless 535kg and 5th place, but still ahead of young Junior Michael Censori, improving at 527.5kg. Further up in the 74kg class battered warhorse Neville Harris hung on for the win, after Club associate Sean Muir lifted as badly as he has long threatened to do. Just behind Nev was the deeply disturbed Small Luke Helmke, also attempting to train, if that word can be used, for a bodybuilding contest in a month’s time. Lest we forget, Minh Nguyen actually resembled a lifter back in 4th place, getting most of his lifts in a turn up for the books.

On to 83kg and the drama intensified. Chris Seville and APT between them squatted an Australian Record 285kg that wasn’t, as Chris bombed in the Bench. 155kg then 160kg was too heavy or maybe too light, but either way Chris was defunct. But then another bomb came by the leader in the Deadlift and who should emerge but The Brisbane Enigma, David Platzer! 650kg for a new best Total and suddenly the name “Platzer, D” is in the archives as Australian Champion! A triumph for persistence, mercuriality and no-one knows what else, but David was the winner and everyone else wasn’t.

Up at 105kg and Chris Schaerf came out of the desert, 18 months of thwarted progress bursting out with 787.5kg, a best by 40kg or so. 290kg Squat and 225kg Bench were outstanding efforts and put Chris in 3rd place overall. Dave Jame is incurable in his love of the sauna and came down from 112kg to 105kg to Squat an Oceania record 338kg, with a near miss on 356kg Commonwealth Record; however 305kg Deadlift was strangely difficult, although one look at the pudgy thighs explained all. Still 813kg was a consolidator and 840kg is the range for David next time. 120kg saw Lepeka (Peks) Nanai come through with a 30kg best, despite an ironic pec tear.

Way out there though with a gigantic 945kg at 120+kg was Stephen Pritchard, only 8 weeks out of hospital due to pneumonia. That put Stephen deservedly on the dais with all-time greats Brad Gillingham and Tony Harris and on the path of the first Australian 1,000kg total.

But there was more. The Bench Press session saw Minh replicate his 170kg from the day before to win the 74kg class and then Dr Strange, Peter Lange, took the 83kg class with 175kg, both rendering their opposition… invisible! And then the star of Vegie TV, Noah Hannibal avoided apprehension long enough to produce 190kg and take second place at 120kg.

And so it was, overall, another success for the Club. From here, mercifully, the Australian Open Championships will move to Sydney and the other hardies who will lug weights around at 1am. But still the Australian Raw Championships will be in Melbourne next March and that new frontier will be the next big outing for Melbourne Uni Powerlifting Club.

Full Competition Results

– Robert Wilks

Melbourne’s loss is Perth’s gain! On very short notice, the Flanagans, or as Rob affectionately named them, “Mr and Mrs Irish” have moved across the country to W.A.! However, I’m told it’s only temporary. Even so, this is sad news for the MUWPC as Club Vice-President, Marcus and Property Officer, Laura, became almost instaneously integrated into the fabric of the club the moment they stepped through the door only 18 months ago. Both quickly made friends, trained hard, competed, took up roles on the committee, were an integral part of the 2010/11 nationals and PA’s live streaming of comps. Talk about hitting the ground running!

Melbourne seemed to agree with them too. In their short time here, Marcus added 75kg to his total and Laura added 25kg to hers… as well as their first child (Peach)! All signs point to there being plenty more in the tank too, kilograms that is, not children, well … they are Irish. Anyway, before this gets completely off track, I’d like to say thanks to those who made it to the Southbank farewell dinner on less than a day’s notice and thank-you to Marcus and Laura for all they’ve given to the club and the sport in such a short time!

On Behalf of the MUWPC: “Best Wishes ‘Mr and Mrs Irish’ (and Peach)!

We hope to have you back on the team soon!”

FULL COMP
74kg Class – Michael Censori, Nghiep Luu, Minh Nguyen, Luke Helmke, Neville Harris
83kg Class – Chris Seville, David Platzer
105kg Class – David Jame (Pacific Invitational Session), Chris Schaerf
120kg Class – Lepeka Nanai
120+kg Class – Joel DiBattista, Stephen Pritchard (Pacific Invitational Session)

BENCH PRESS
74kg Class – Minh Nguyen
83kg Class – Peter Lange, Simon Close
105kg Class – Noah Hannibal

Best wishes for white lights and PRs everyone!!!”

Tickets now available at www.powerliftingaustralia.com

The 83kg class was made up entirely of MUWPC lifters, with Sean the Penniless taking top spot. Everyone else improved significantly, with Rene claiming a +42.5kg on his total. Marcus finally benched 100kg and got a total PB despite a drastic weight cut and rushing to the airport half way through the deadlift round. Linh skipped the weight cut in favour of pizzas the night before and went 9/9 for the first time, with three fighting third attempts to please the crowd. Tudor squatted 200kg in his first competition at the club and also made a +20kg PB on the bench press after months of technique work. Big Noah tried a full equipped comp for the first time with solid success, only the hitched deadlifts letting him down.

In the bench press only, Minh gave us a taste of what’s to come at the Nationals with a 170kg equipped bench at 74kg bodyweight, while Peter Lange impressed everyone with an over double bodyweight raw bench, 160kg at 79kg bodyweight.

- Linh Vu

Full results: http://www.powerliftingaustralia.com/Results/2011/2011results20.htm