Full Results are on the Results 2018 page.

Keith’s passion for bringing an IPF meet to Connacht was the driving force behind the March Open and it was clear to everybody how much effort he put into making it happen.

Setting up and getting all of the gear to the venue wouldn’t have happened without Keith, his absolute trooper of a wife Lisa, Gemma, and the entire Storm Body Fitness crew on the Sligo side, Jonny Gardner brought us plates and a bar kindly lent by CoachSean Crowe’s Strength Militia, Arthur Lynch brought a rack and a bar from CityGym Limerick, Joe Macken brought a rack from Athlone Powerlifting, and Luke Curran and Deividas Barisas helped me get the balance of the equipment up from ABS and RevFit in Dublin.

As you can see, practically every major club in the IPF contributed somehow and the March Open really was a community effort.

Once we got going, we saw some phenomenal lifting on the day and your IPF March Open Champions are:

57: Gemma Davey (STM) – 252.5kg @ 55.2
63: Aoife O’Sullivan (ABS) – 352.5kg @ 62.2
72: Maeve Cummins – 360kg @ 69.6
84: Aisling Nic An Bhreithimh (IWX) – 390kg @ 76
84+: Lindsey McManus (STM) – 357.5kg @ 101.8

74: Ryan Finlay (ABS) – 547.5kg @ 70.6
83: Liam Cannon (ABS) – 542.5kg @ 81.6
93: Kevin Plamadeala (KTS) – 617.5kg @ 92.2
105: Daniel Mchugh (STM) – 620kg @ 100.6
120: Conor Markey (IWX) – 472.5kg @ 113
120+: Padraig Tansey (STM) – 395kg @ 122.8

Congratulations to everyone who lifted on the day – it’s no small feat to get on a platform and put a total up, well done!

Two lifters stood out above all others though with ABS Powerlifting doing the Best Lifter double:

Female Best Lifter: Aoife O’Sullivan (ABS) – 352.5kg @ 62.2 for 382.25 Wilks
Male Best Lifter: Ryan Finlay (ABS) – 547.5kg @ 70.6 for 407.61 Wilks

The Club Championship continues to be hotly contested and was again decided by Wilks as Points alone weren’t enough. ABS Powerlifting, coached on the day by Deividas Barisas, managed to complete what I believe is the IPF’s first every treble by beating the hosts to first place:

1. ABS Powerlifting – 46 Points – 1,753.83 Wilks
2. Storm Body Fitness – 46 Points – 1,598.20 Wilks
3. Strength Militia – 35 Points – 1,535.27 Wilks

As always, these competitions simply cannot happen without our dedicated volunteer teams on the platform and in the referee’s chairs.

Thank you to our spotting and loading team for the weekend who were Arthur Lynch, Jack Thornton, Deividas Barisas, Fiona Glynn, Gabrielle Ervine, David Duncan, and Donnacha Cregan.

Your referees for the weekend were Jack Ryan, Ally Ni Raghallaigh, Louise Millar, Sean Ryan, Jonny Gardner, Joe Macken, and Danny Mcilhagga.

Several people ended up contributing throughout the entire day and I want to highlight a few of these to show just how much work goes in and just how important it is to the Federation for people to volunteer whenever they can:

– Sean Ryan: coached all morning, reffed all afternoon
– Deividas Barisas: platform crew all morning, coached all afternoon
– Jonny Gardner & Danny Mcilhagga: started weigh-ins at 0630, lifted in morning session, reffed all afternoon
– Ally O’Reilly: reffed in morning session, ran the table in the afternoon

I may well have missed others who were involved for the entire day – my apologies if so. I can’t thank the people who volunteer enough but even with the numbers we have, we can be stretched for competitions like this. If you ever want to get involved in the sport or give back a little then please volunteer however you can.

Overall, I am thrilled with how the event went considering it was a new venue and our first time in that part of the country. I want to thank Keith and the Storm crew once more for pushing us to bring something to the West – it wouldn’t have happened without their persistence.

Next up is Universities in ABS in April – we’ll see you then! (And if you wanna volunteer, get in touch!)

Finally, keep an eye out during the week for a huge recap of the phenomenal success our lifters and coaches had at the European Classic Master’s Championships last week in Helsingborg.

Beir bua,
Rob