Eighteen lifters from Melbourne Uni stepped on the platform sans equipments to compete with raw strength & power against other best raw lifters from around the country in the first Raw National Championships held at Hawthorn Weightlifting Centre. Newcomer Dimi, in her first competition, won best lifter among a strong field of female lifters and set a solid A grade total of 372.5kg, not far from an Elite2 ranking. Fellow lifter Katie got a huge 47.5kg improvement on her previous total with 8/9 successful lifts. Nidhi won the female 63kg class. In the men’s divisions, Robert’s battlers had a decent showing with many PBs set, nobody bombing and a few medals won here & there. Club stars Nghiep Luu and David Jame dominated their weight classes, 74 and 105kg respectively. Nghiep, triumphant in his first return to the platform in years, made a massive 520kg total at just 68kg bodyweight and pulled a tremendous 240kg deadlift with an injured hand. David Jame claimed his rightful place in the record books with two national record lifts – a 270kg squat and a 302.5kg deadlift, equalling the open record standard total at 712.5kg and bringing home the Open Men’s Best Lifter title.
83kg class lifter Marcus showed his multi-talents off the platform by setting up and launching the live online streaming of the event, the first for Powerlifting Australia. The channel is available at http://www.justin.tv/powerliftingaustralia/videos and will be on for the equipped Australian Championships at the end of July.
– Linh Vu
