And, just like that, the competition year is over. It was a pleasure to go to CityGym for our final event of the year and many thanks to Arthur, Gar, and all of the CityGym crew who helped set up and run another fantastic competition.

Your weight class winners were:

Female

• Erica Gaffney (47, ABS) – 207.5 @ 45.8 (284.25 Wilks)
• Emily Walsh (57, APC) – 320 @ 54.2 (386.27 Wilks)
• Carol Lennon (63, APC) – 280 @ 61.6 (305.90 Wilks)
• Eleanor McShortall (72, PBD) – 322.5 @ 70.6 (318.95 Wilks)
• Emma Kiely (84, BHF) – 375 @ 82.6 (337.27 Wilks)

Male

• Mohaned Abujennah (66, -) – 497.5 @ 65.2 (394.62 Wilks)
• Jack Brady (74, -) – 552.5 @ 73.2 (400.51 Wilks)
• Gavin Butler (83, -) – 480 @ 79.6 (328.75 Wilks)
• Nigel Pearson (93, PFP) – 587.5 @ 92.6 (369.83 Wilks)
• Graham Norton (105, DSC) – 642.5 @ 100.4 (390.38 Wilks)
• Marc Keys (120, -) – 800 @ 118.6 (461.20 Wilks)
• Sean Cuddy (120+, TSC) – 630 @ 148 (349.21 Wilks)

We also had the pleasure of having four guest lifters who had been due to compete at the CityGym Invitational event but as that was postponed they graciously agreed to lift in the December Last Chance instead. They were:

• Bronagh McPeake (72, SMI) – 447.5 @ 64.8 (470.55 Wilks)
• Karen Barry (72, ABS) – 393 @ 71.4 (385.73 Wilks)
• Pierre Shillingford (93, -) – 732.5 @ 91.4 (464.04 Wilks)
• Barry Pigott (105, ABS) – 830 @ 101.2 (502.73 Wilks)

All of the guest lifters put up some phenomenal numbers but a special note must go to Mr. Pigott who broke the IrishPF’s 500 Wilks barrier for the first time – well done, Freakboy.

In the Club Championship we had what I believe is a first-time win for Athlone Powerlifting Club as well as a new entry into the Club placings with Twomey Strength & Conditioning with Pearson Fitness & Performance coming third.

1. Athlone Powerlifting Club (Joe Macken) – 49 Points
2. Twomey Strength & Conditioning (David Twomey) – 48 Points
3. Pearson Fitness & Performance (Nigel Pearson) – 30 Points

As always, competitions simply cannot run without volunteers and our fantastic refereeing team for the day was Jason Fehily, Stephen Cusack, Amy O’Donoghue, Karen Barry, and Sarah Flynn. We also had a special assist from Gar Benn and Keith Richardson who helped with weigh-ins.

It was also a pleasure to continue our collaboration with No Lift Powerlifting who took some incredible photos and video of the event for the IPF as well as individual lifters who had requested media packs – thank you to the No Lift team.

Spotting and loading remains the most important – and most thankless – job in powerlifting and Sunday’s team did an incredible job keeping the platform moving and ensuring lifter safety. A huge thank you to Kevin Campbell, James Lynch, David Walsh, Gary O’Connor, Rob Moloney, Donnacha Cregan, Callum McCormack, Adam Keane, and Freya Hammer.

The full results are available here.

Thank you to every single person who helped at this event and all of the others across the year. Have a very Merry Christmas and we’ll see you on the platform in 2018.

Note: an earlier version of these results listed John Donovan as the winner of the -83 class and ABS Powerlifting as third place in the Club Championship. John should have been recorded as a Guest lifter however due to an error in the paperwork he was incorrectly entered in the Open. Apologies for any confusion.