Former recordholder is building back to his best

It has been a slow climb back to the top for Whakatane's Reuben Simanu after a motorbike accident sidelined the friendly giant of the powerlifting world for six months.
The Super Heavyweight 125kg+ competitor, who was in Whangarei at the weekend to contest his 10th National Bench Press Championships, still feels the effects of the accident he had in 2008.
"I couldn't train for six months after it. I lost 25-30kg of power because I had quite bad nerve damage which still affects me - it runs down my upper arms and is particularly bad in my left arm. It affected my ability to press the bar out," the 39-year-old said.
Over the past 18 months, Simanu has been slowly building up strength again to get back to where he was before the accident, when he was benching more than 300kg. In 2005, he set the NZ Bench Press record, lifting 305kg and also holds the Oceania and Commonwealth records in the discipline.
"I've set goals for these championships as I always do. It's one thing to lift the best weight in your class, but I'm aiming to be the best male lifter overall - I try to get that title every year. I would be very happy to crack 280kg. I've been lifting 270kg comfortably in training so I will have a go at it," he said before his first lift of the championships.
At 159kg, Simanu's size paled in comparison to Auckland's Jason Gerbich, who was the heaviest competitor at the nationals, weighing in at 171kg.
Simanu, a paper industry technician, said he recently retired from competing internationally because he wanted to spend more time with his partner and three young daughters.
But Simanu enjoys travelling around the country, attending national and regional competitions and meeting friends. After all it is the people - along with challenging himself and the competition - that keeps him in the sport
"The powerlifting fraternity is quite a tight-knit group - I've always said we are quite like an extended family. The people are great and while we only see each other at competitions, if we are in someone's town we will drop into see each other," he said.
Next year, Simanu turns 40 and will switch from competing in the open division to the masters age group.
While he did not quite reach 280kg on Saturday, Simanu beat Jason Gerbich with his best lift of 275kg. Gerbich lifted 240kg, which was a personal best. Simanu achieved his national goal of winning his class, along with the best overall open lifter award.