Bench Press: Katrina Barrett among Northlanders to lift strong at national champs

Katrina Bennett had a strong showing at the New Zealand Benchpress Championships in Whangarei. Photo/Michael Cunningham

Northlanders were amongst the top performers during the New Zealand Benchpress Championships hosted by Whangarei.

Twelve women and eight men from the province competed in the event, having a fair bit of success.

Being the hosts meant Northland had a lot of competitors but there was still a lot of pressure to perform at such a big event on the calendar.

Katrina Barrett again showed her lifting chops by taking out the open 84+kg category. She cracked triple figures with her 100kg bench in an impressive effort.

She was joined on the podium by fellow Northlander Janelle Abbott, who was second with a lift of 82.5kg.

Kerikeri's Jade Isbister continued a good year with a strong lift in the under 72kg junior division. She lifted 67.5kg to take out the division.

This followed a great performance at the Commonwealth Powerlifting Championships in South Africa where she came home with a silver in the bench press and bronzes in squat, deadlift and overall.

She was joined in the winners' circle by a trio of junior and sub-junior lifters.

Annaliese Blair led the way in the U57kg sub-junior division, picking up the gold with a 67.5kg lift while fellow sub-junior lifter Jessica Tregidga was top in the U63kg division, lifting 55kg.

Stephanie Sugden was first in the under 84kg junior competition with a 77.5kg bench.

The masters divisions threw up some tough tussles as Ngahine Lum, Margaret Lindsay, Jeannette Urlich and Janne Barrett all tried to top their respective divisions.

Lum was put to the test in the 84+kg competition, finishing up second with a strong lift of 85kg.

Meanwhile Lindsay, Urlich and Barrett went one better. Lindsay took out the U63kg Masters Two division with a top lift of 61kg while Urlich (first in U63kg Masters Two equipped with a 61kg lift) and Barrett (first in U63kg Masters Three at 50.5kg) also claimed gold.

In the men's competitions, Tony Urlich picked up a victory in the Masters Two U93kg Equipped division with a 132.5kg lift while Lance Urlich had the third-best Open lift with a lift of 155kg.

Ming Ming Edgar and Josh Cook both had good days out, finishing second in the U74kg open and first in the U74kg juniors respectively. Edgar lifted 95kg while Cook put up 92.5kg.

The masters divisions again fostered success for Northland lifters with Mark Osborne, Brian Froggatt and John Dellow taking out divisions.

Osborne was first in the 120+kg division with a monster lift of 190kg. Froggatt nailed a 130kg lift in the U74kg Masters Two competition while Dellow was the best in the Masters Four U93kg competition with a 125kg push.