Eighteen that is the number of national records that tumbled on Sunday when the Guyana Amateur Powerlifting Federation (GAPLF) hosted its Intermediate and Masters Championship at Chase’s Academy.
Best lifter in their respective categories, Nangita Seenarine (female equipped) and Frank Tucker (Masters 4 Equipped) chalked up and broke 12 among them with Matthew Maycock and Saif Abdool erasing three apiece. Seenarine, 23, lifting in the 52kg division, broke eight records en route to lifting the coveted trophy.
Her best lifts on the platform were 120kg (264.555lbs) for the squat, 50kg (110.231lbs) for the bench press and 120kg (264.555lbs) for the deadlift. Her show of strength earned her the weight class records for the three lifts and total 290kg (639.341lbs) for both the women’s junior and women’s Open categories.
The 71-year-old Tucker, was also in record breaking mode, showing that age is just a number. The fountain of youth was overflowing at the Parade Street institution as Tucker, the oldest person on the platform, broke record after record. He is now in the history books for all three lifts and total in the 93kg Masters 4 Equipped category. His record breaking lifts were 120kg (264.555lbs) for the squat, 77.5kg (170.858lbs) for the bench press and 140kg (308.647lbs) for the deadlift while the total recorded was 337.5kg (744.060lbs).
Maycock, lifting in the Masters 1, 83kg classic division, set records in the squat (197.5kg), deadlift (230kg) and the total (537.5kg). Abdool’s best lifts in the bench press (100kg), deadlift (185kg) and his total (460kg) were all records in the division of the Men’s 93kg sub-junior Equipped.
Other best lifters on Sunday included: Kezia Joseph (Intermediate female classic), Shaquille Alexander ((Intermediate male classic), Nicholas Teju (Intermediate male Equipped) and Marlon Wilson (Master’s Classic).
On Sunday, there was also guest lifting by senior strongmen and a fund raising Bar-B-Que.
The event was sponsored by Fitness Express, Space Gym 2.0 and the Trophy Stall. The championships, the second statutory one staged by the federation for the year, attracted in excess of 20 lifters. The next event on the GAPF calendar, the Raw Nationals Championship, is tentatively set for July.
