Trainstation at the GPC powerlifting nationals

The Trainstation crew coached by Mike Smith (second from left) had a great weekend breaking records and winning trophies at the GPCNZ National Championships 2020. Photo / Supplied

Trainstation powerlifters had a fine outing at the GPCNZ National Championships 2020 in Auckland on October 24-25.

The event was held in the New Zealand naval base, giving it added atmosphere.

The seven strong team peaked to perfection, adding six New Zealand nationals champions, six New Zealand records, one overall winner and a tonne of personal bests.

The Mike Smith coached team, which had been prepping for this contest ever since the gym opened in May post Covid-19, did everything that was asked of them and more.

Standout performers were Ivan Ranwell who pulled off a national bodybuilding title two weeks earlier and then backed up with a national bench press record and win. Not many people have done this, the focus has to be spot on and he pushed himself all the way.

Paula Jane is now a dual federation national champion and has four more New Zealand records to her name. Paula is turning into an elite powerlifter in only 18 months of work and still has her best to come.

"For me, my number one goal is to always lead by example so I had to set the bars high," said Mike.

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"In doing so my focus was on breaking my category deadlift record, which I did in lift two, and went on adding another 10kg to own the record.

"After my best squat to date and an improved bench I also took the New Zealand 3 lift record by 25kg and won my New Zealand title as well as being announced the overall masters New Zealand Champion.

"All of this I couldn't have done without the team, clearly one of the most dominating and committed teams."

Trainstation had their support crew and sponsors from throughout the Waikato, New Plymouth Tauranga and Auckland attend.

"It was honestly overwhelming how much love we received giving us our best performance to date."

The Trainstation crew had Sunday off and have since been back into preparation for the next outing.