Rob vows to press on in record quest
CAIRNS powerlifter Rob Murchie failed to beat his own national bench press record as a spritely 79-year-old from Townsville stole the show at the Deep North Challenge at the weekend.
Murchie, 60, who set the record for his weight and age division with a 157.5kg effort at the last challenge in April, had lifted 160kg in the lead-up to the event but fell agonisingly short.
Despite that, the Shirts North sales manager said he’d keep training after wowing the crowd at St Andrew’s College on Saturday afternoon with his brute strength.
“I was pretty happy with my opening press (of 152.5kg),” Murchie said.
“From there, I just thought I’d go for it and tried to get 160kg on the next two attempts, and got the bar halfway up both times.
“Next year’s another year. I’ll go for it again at the next challenge or the national masters next year.”
Organiser Elias Wright said veteran powerlifter Tom Beynon, 79, the eldest of the 36 competitors on the day, had endeared himself with his love for the sport.
“You don’t expect someone that age to be so spritely,” Wright said of the septuagenarian.
“He was full of energy. We didn’t know much about him but he’s a powerlifter from way back, apparently and used to hold a couple of records.
“Tom kisses the bar before he squats. He had a lot of quirky idiosyncrasies that I think people really enjoyed.
“He said he hadn’t competed for nine years but decided to get back into it.”
The Challenge also featured para-athletes for the first time with Daryl Sterling Jr putting in a strong performance.
“Daryl did a great Wright said.
“He bench pressed 127.5kg which was an excellent effort and more than we expected on the day.”
Powerlifting is a competitive weightlifting sport where athletes have three attempts at completing three different lifts, consisting of the squat, bench press and deadlift.
The rules are modified for para-athletes who only bench press, while using a modified bench with a strap. job,”