Records fall at the British Age Group Championships

The 2023 British Age Group Championships took place over the weekend of 9/10 September at the John Charles Centre for Sport in Leeds.

With nearly 260 entries, this year’s championships were the biggest to date, and for the first time in its history, BWL used three platforms to accommodate all the athletes. An unparalleled 38 new age group British records were set – a testament to the hard work of athletes and coaches.

Almost sixty U12/U10 lifters took to the Green platform over the course of the first day. For lifters of this age, results are determined using the BWL points scoring system. The system is designed to encourage lifters to develop their technical ability. Final placings are determined through a combination of technical ability points and weight lifted.

Source: Phil Ward - @followthelighthouse

The U10 girls opened the competition. First out was Neve Clowes, the youngest lifter to compete. On her way to the gold medal for her category she showed excellent technique, gaining maximum technical points in the snatch. Other gold medalists in this group were Ree Hayer, Mollie Cree, Ava Abed, Amber-Rose Clegg-Tyler, Ani Taylor and Amara-Lilli Roberts.

The second group were the U10 boys, and again, some excellent technique was demonstrated. Leon Moradi ‘dropped’ only two technical points on his way to the gold medal in the 67kg category. Noah Hawley, Dylan Botten, George Mason and Alfie Green were the other gold medalists in this group.

Abigail Burt led the way in group 3, scoring maximum technical points on her way to the gold medal in the U12 40kg category. Also wining gold were River Oatley, Camryn Carter and Izzabelle Deakin. Three of the U12 boys in the next group scored highly for technical ability, each just 3 points short of maximum. Axl Travis (40kg category), Noah Castro (49kg) and Tyler Fairbrother (73kg) took home well deserved gold medals, as did Leon Sullivan in the 45kg category.

The penultimate group on the Green platform were the last of the U12 girls  where a further four gold medals were awarded to Anhelina Bychyk, Esmee Williams, Elizabeth Sorbie and Emily Jackson. Emily’s technique was impressive, with her finishing just one point short of the maximum available. The final group of the day saw 12 lifters battle it out. Gold medals went to Fraser Ruddock (55kg), Frankie Thewlis (61kg), Ryan Gray (67kg), Darius Mosavi (81kg) and Archie Green (89+kg). Archie scored the maximum points available for his outstanding technique, while Fraser also demonstrated great technical ability, only 1 point behind maximum.

The opening group on the Red platform produced the first new British records. On his way to winning the U15 49kg title, Thomas Duggan set a new snatch record of 62kg. Competing in the same group, Harrison McGrogan added an astonishing 35kg to the total record for the U15 55kg category, with a snatch record of 77kg, clean & jerk record of 100kg giving a total record of 177kg. Llewellyn Waits added to the U15 men’s age group records with three new records in the 61kg category – 73kg snatch, 89kg clean & jerk, giving a 162kg total.

The U17 lifters continued the record breaking trend with Yuvraj Shergill setting a 55kg snatch record of 77kg; Silver Ee breaking all three of his existing records in the 67kg category with 107kg snatch, 134kg clean & jerk and 241kg total and Dylan Arthur breaking the 89kg clean & jerk record with 145kg.

Rounding out the men’s records, Joshua Hutton increased his own U20 snatch and total records in the 102kg category with 135kg and 283kg; while Kun Mo Yang took the U20 109+ snatch record with 135kg, in the process improving his own total record to 296kg.

Not to be outshone, 22 records fell in the women’s categories. In the opening group on the Blue platform Aleksandra Walesa took her sister’s records in the U15 40kg category with a 35kg snatch, 45kg clean & jerk and 80kg total. The records kept on coming with Phoebe Davis claiming a hat-trick of records in U15 59 kg category with 73kg snatch, 84kg clean & jerk and 157kg total.

There was a good battle in the U15 64kg category. Emily Arsali improved her own clean & jerk record to 80kg but then saw it broken by Annabelle Pettit with 82kg. Annabelle improved this to 88kg and, with her earlier snatch record of 73kg, added a third new British record with a 158kg total.

Records continued to tumble in the U17 40kg category. Not to be outdone by her younger sister, Julie Walesa improved her existing records with a 42kg snatch, 52kg clean & jerk and a 94kg total. In the 71kg category, Maddie Rosher achieved three new U17 records with an 80kg snatch, 100kg clean & jerk and 180kg total. In the 81kg category, Belle Needham added her name to the list of U17 record breakers with 91kg clean & jerk.

More records were to come with Emily Steel adding 2kg to the U20 64kg category snatch record with 98kg. Alex Mackay continued her record breaking form, improving on all three U23 records she set at the recent British senior championships with a 55kg snatch, 74kg clean & jerk and a 129kg total in the 45kg category. Funmi Morgan brought the record breaking extravaganza to a close with a new U23 81kg snatch record of 84kg and total record of 184kg.

A huge thank you is due to the technical officials and loaders, without whom these championships could not have taken place.

British Age Group Results:

Men

Women

U12

 

Don’t forget, you can still order photos/videos from the weekend from the following:

Follow the Lighthouse Red platform

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Samthecreative Green platform:

https://www.followthelighthouse.com/shop/bwl-british-age-group-championships-2023-green-platform-only/

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