Incredible strength behind record lift
THE tears flowed readily as Rob Murchie stepped away from the bench press at the weekend in the middle of a crowded Cairns high school gym.
Chalk billowed in the air as a slew of burly powerlifters rushed to embrace the man who had defied death to achieve a national record, giving the 105kg giant one hearty backslap after another.
The details of Murchie’s near-fatal accident are still hazy to him but the consequences were very clear.
A little over a year ago, he remembers helping a mate cut down a tree in his backyard. The next thing he can recall is holding on for dear life in intensive care at Townsville Hospital.
“I spent two weeks unconscious,” Murchie said earlier this week. “I must have been in hospital for a few months but I still don’t remember it all.”
The Shirts North sales manager had been struck in the head by a falling branch, with the blow fracturing his skull and both eye sockets.
Murchie’s recovery is ongoing but at the weekend he realised he could still achieve great things, setting a national bench press record for his weight and age division at the Deep North Challenge powerlifting contest in Redlynch.
“After I did the lift, I said to myself: ‘You’re back, Rob. You’re back, mate. It’s all good again,’” he said. “When I came out of hospital I had so many problems. I couldn’t speak, eat or sleep properly.
“So to do that lift, I had to check my pulse to see I wasn’t dreaming. The noise in the place was unbelievable. I think it just about blew the roof off.
“I’ve never had so many bear hugs. It was a pretty special moment for the gym I train at and me. I was just the guy under the bar.”
Murchie attempted three lifts at the event, starting with 145kg before attempting to beat the old record with his second lift at 152.5kg. Minutes later, he smashed his own record with a massive 157.5kg lift.
Coach Elias Wright said the moment was fitting reward for an extreme amount of dedication to his training program.
“Rob is different in a number of ways. To start with, he’s a bench press-only athlete,” Wright said.
“He had a lot of restrictions from the doctors when he first got out of hospital. He was still going through tests when he came back to the gym.
“But we were patient and really just started from scratch.
“When he started, he wasn’t even allowed to lift a barbell, so we were using 2kg dumbbells.”
While Murchie admits his short-term memory may never be as good as it was before the accident, he has learned to deal with it by using a diary and setting reminders on his phone.
But going to the gym has been crucial to improving his quality of life.
“(After the accident), my wife said I probably shouldn’t go back to the gym but I just wanted to be there and even if I couldn’t do what I did before it was good to get out of the house,” Murchie said.
“My family were so good to me but at the gym, Elias really gave a damn. He wanted me to get better.
“I’m never going to be exactly the same as I was before the accident but I’m pretty good, I reckon. Such an important part of getting better is working for it. You can’t just sit at home and wait for it to happen.”
Murchie will attempt to beat his own record at the National Masters in Melbourne this August.