Battle of the Barbell Competition Launched

British Weight Lifting’s (BWL) new concept competition Battle of the Barbell was officially launched at Strength in Depth at Birmingham NEC on Saturday 15 and Sunday 16 July.

The new competition has been designed to appeal to strength athletes, widening the appeal beyond the traditional Olympic weightlifting boundaries.

The competition is a pound for pound test to see who is the strongest. Following a five-minute warm up, athletes were given three minutes to complete as many clean and jerk reps as possible (AMRAP).  During the AMRAP, a Technical Official granted each rep either a 'rep' (good lift), 'press' (10 points) or 'no lift' (0 points). To generate a score, the following formula was used: (Amount of reps x kg lifted) x Sinclair coefficient - point deductions.

The fast paced three minutes meant athletes had to give it their all whilst still ensuring their lifts were technically correct to avoid point deductions. With some amazing prizes up for grabs, there were a lot of tactics involved with lifters trying to work out what they would need to achieve before heading onto the platform to ensure they were in with a chance of winning.

Emily Campbell, Olympic silver medallist and Commonwealth champion was in attendance to celebrate the launch and treated spectators to some spectacular lifting.

British Weight Lifitng would like to thank its partners Optimum Nutrition, Weightlifting House, SBD and Eleiko for their support in launching the new competition by providing the competition prizes.

All athletes received a goodie bag with items supplied from Optimum Nutrition, Eleiko and Weightlifting House.

Karl McClean and Pauline Maurin were the overall champions of the competition, each winning an Eleiko sit up bench, BWL merchandise and a one year free BWL membership.

Oliver Stidwell and Emily Grimmett were in second place and won SBD Knee Sleeves, BWL merchandise and a one year free BWL membership.

In third place was Tony Robinson and Jeanette Badham who won Weightlifting House straps, BWL merchandise and a one year free BWL membership.

Matthew Curtain, BWL CEO has commented, “This was a great weekend for British Weight Lifting. As part of our five-year strategy we want to educate, inspire and create greater opportunities that appeal to a more diverse and inclusive audience. This new concept competition is part of ensuring we achieve this, and we are delighted to have launched Battle of the Barbell and look forward to creating more opportunities for people to take part in it. Well done to all the competitors who took part, we hope to see you again soon.”