By Emmerson Campbell
Seventy-four kilogramme Masters Two World deadlift record holder Winston Stoby warmed up impressively for the World Masters Championships by besting his own deadlift record yesterday at the St Stanislaus College forum when the Guyana Amateur Powerlifting Federation (GAPF) staged its 2012 Intermediate and Masters Championships.
Stoby, who will attend the World Masters Championships along with 2011 World Masters bronze medalist John ‘Big John’ Edwards in Texas, USA in October, broke his World record of 265.5kgs/585.4 pounds which was set at the 2012 Caribbean Championships in St Thomas, US Virgin Islands in April.
Stoby, 53, who trains at the Kingsrow Barbell Gym, deadlifted 267kgs/589 pounds to rewrite the record books and signal his intention of lifting a gold medal in October.
Yesterday Stoby also bench pressed 140kgs and squatted 257.5kgs. His total of 665 kgs and Wilks score of 489.98 was also enough to lift the Masters overall trophy ahead of Masters Two 93kgs winner Errol Henry (total 645kgs, Wilks score 415.83) and Gordon Spencer (total 645kgs, Wilks score 360.78).
Masters One 120kgs lifter Edwards, after completing a best squat of 755 pounds, was unable to continue in the competition after he sustained an injury on his first bench press routine. Edwards, however, assured this publication that he would be healthy enough to compete at the Masters Championships.
The 2008 Hugh Ross Classic overall champion Mark ‘Uno’ Perry returned to powerlifting after a six-year hiatus and copped the 105kgs first place trophy and the Masters One (40-49 years) overall title.
Perry, 40, squatted 260kgs, bench pressed 190kgs and deadlifted 320kgs.
Meanwhile, Thyron Eusebio of Total Fitness Gym was adjudged the 2012 overall intermediate champion ahead of this year’s Novices Best lifter from Power House Gym, Rudolph Blackman.
Eusebio, who also won the 74kgs first place trophy with lifts of 210kgs, 122.5kgs and 212.5kgs (total 545kgs) in the squat, bench press and deadlift routines respectively, had a Wilks score of 418.23.
Blackman, who won the 83kgs category yesterday with lifts of 232k in the squat, 155kgs in the bench press and 260kgs in the deadlift (557kgs total), Wilks’ score of 405.92, was lower than Eusebio’s.
Other category winners in the intermediate competition were Sohail Hussain, (53kgs) with a total of 367.5kgs (Wilks score 353.57), Zaheed Kayoom (66kgs) with a total of 427.5 (Wilks score 340.37), Nandaram Bhagwandin (93kgs) with a total of 602kgs (Wilks score382.21) and Owen Thomside with a total of 681.5kgs (Wilks score 396.21).
At the prize giving ceremony Anis Ade-Thomas, Vijai Rahim and Stoby received Commonwealth Powerlifting Federation Record Certificates for the records they broke at the 2012 Caribbean Championships in St Thomas, US Virgin Islands in April.
The event, which was solely sponsored by Fitness Express, was deemed a success and will be followed up by the two-day Senior National Championships in December.
