Update on BWL events in 2020

The British Weight Lifting competition calendar has been greatly affected by coronavirus, leading to all national and most regional and local events in 2020 being postponed or cancelled.  As most restrictions on day to day life are gradually eased BWL has reassessed the opportunity to return to hosting physical events.

UK government guidance indicates that organised sport may be proceed in a Covid-secure manner, to this end BWL has created and released a Return to Competition document to meet this requirement

In addition, a recent members survey indicated a majority of BWL members support a return to physical competition, with key issues addressed such as the use of sanitising products, facemasks and social distancing.

There are two national events remaining in the 2020 competition calendar:

British Age Group Championships      17-18 October

England Senior Championships           07-08 November

British Age Group Championships

The British Age Group Championships originally scheduled for 17-18 October will now take place virtually.  This event will also incorporate the England Age Groups Championships which was postponed earlier this year in March.

Lifters will pay a single entry fee to take part in this competition, BWL will assess if they are eligible to compete in both the England and British competitions and process the results accordingly.  The entry fee will be £15.00

As with the Virtual Open Series competitions, results from the virtual British and England Age Group Championships will be recognised for qualification and ranking to future events.  However, the results will not be eligible for new records.

Qualification for this competition will follow the regulations outlined in the BWL TCRR with the following exceptions:

• All qualification totals reduced by 2%
• The start of the qualification period backdated to 01 January 2019
• The end of the qualification period will be Sunday 04 October 2020

Medallists for this competition will receive their medals in the post, with results being made available within 3 working days of the final submission date.

Entry to this competition will be through the same system as Lockdown Lift Off and the Virtual Open Series.  Submissions will begin at 0900 on Monday 12 October and close at 1800 on Sunday 18 October.  Late submissions will not be accepted.  Refunds will not be issued for submissions that are rejected.

A full guide to submissions will be published separately to assist with competition entries.

England Senior Championships

The England Senior Championships originally scheduled for 07-08 November 2020 is currently under review to assess if a physical event can take place.  If a physical event is not deemed possible then a virtual hosting format will be put in place as an alternative.  More information about this event will be published next week.

For more information please contact the Competitions Team by emailing competitions@britishweightlifting.org or call 01132 249 402