Wow. What an incredible weekend. Some people are already back training, some are taking a well-earned break, and others are quietly plotting their path to making Nationals 2020 their first time on the big stage.

As always, the IrishPF always puts lifters first so it is an incredible honour to announce your Irish Powerlifting Federation National Champions 2019:

47: Janine Martin – 327.5 @ 44.7 – 680.31 P
52: Anna Hourihane – 361.0 @ 51.7 – 692.94 P
57: Chloé-Jade McDonald – 380.5 @ 56.2 – 699.62 P
63: Brónagh McPeake – 437.5 @ 62.1 – 767.16 P
72: Shannon Pollock – 427.5 @ 71.6 – 699.63 P
84: Deirdre Fenlon – 478.5 @ 83.5 – 731.72 P
84+: Lauren Rooney – 432.5 @ 122.8 – 573.84 P

66: Dylan Potter – 520.0 @ 65.0 – 607.82 P
74: Martin Reidy – 595.5 @ 72.8 – 649.49 P
83: Damian Nam – 732.5 @ 82.5 – 749.99 P
93: Fionn Hanratty – 745.0 @ 92.6 – 708.73 P
105: Barry Pigott – 800.0 @ 96.3 – 748.81 P
120: Michael Bruce – 782.5 @ 109.5 – 676.44 P
120+: Sean Crowe – 735.0 @ 141.5 – 546.59 P

Although we saw incredible performances in every weight class, two lifters shone above the rest and your Best Lifters for 2019 are Brónagh McPeake of Strength Militia (767.16 P) and Damian Nam of CityGym Limerick (749.99 P).

Congratulations to Bró, Damian, and every single lifter who hit the platform over the weekend.

Competitions don’t just spring up out of the ground and setting up non-gym venues is always the hardest thing we do. This event would not have happened without serious effort all day on Friday from Cian Madden, Cian O’Shea, Killian Carolan, Jay Farrant, Louis Warren, Ambra Scolaro, Fiona Glynn, and Tara Conlon. The tear down crew on Sunday evening was immense but special call out to Arthur Lynch, Barry Pigott, Louis Warren, Deividas Barisas, Killian Kirsch, Chris Walshe, and Jay Farrant who stuck around until the bitter end.

Your refereeing team over the weekend were lead by Jonny Gardner (Cat. II) and included Danny Mcilhagga (Cat. II), Leslie Hoare (Cat. II), Medb Murtagh (Cat. II), Louise Millar, Lauren McAuley, Hannah Stephenson, Alexandra Kapka, Jack Thornton, Kevin Campbell, Clare Conway, Dan Hurley, and Eric Killeen.

The hardest job at any competition is being part of the platform crew and we had an incredible team at Nationals including Killian Carolan, Dave Worrall, Ben Doyle, Dave Looney, Andrew McEllistrim, Seán Crowe, James Coogan, Noel Whelan, Joanne Ni Ghranna, April Dardis, Alexandra Kapka, Clare Conway, Will Clarke, Luke Curran, Carol Lennon, Ben Harrison, Jason Fehily, Killian Kirsch, Clare Patterson, Stephen Manning, and David O’Connor. How the Sunday Afternoon team caught Mr. Galligan’s 280kg squat from thin air I’ll never know (and fair play Marc for making sure everybody on the platform was okay before he left).

The integrity of our competitions is something we pride ourselves on and the IPF’s Anti-Doping Officer, Dr Tara Conlon, put in an outstanding shift making sure our tests were carried out with a minimum of interference to our competitors. Full results will be published when they return from our WADA-approved lab partners.

A personal thanks to two of the hardest working men in powerlifting, James Lynch and Michael Grace, for coming out of retirement for one last show to provide media packages to lifters and take our official podium shots all weekend — I can’t wait to see the recap video the lads put together.

Running the table is a tough gig but does give one of the best seats in the house – an enormous thank you to Caroline Cunniffe, Rebekah Wilson, Eric Killeen, and Ally O’Reilly who did a tremendous job all weekend!

And, finally, a huge thank you to our IPF Competition Directors – Shannon Pollock and Lauren Rooney – who, along with the IPF Committee, organised a truly outstanding event. The amount of messages and feedback we’ve gotten from lifters, coaches, and spectators has been tremendous and we’re already thinking of ways we can top it in 2020.

Nationals 2019 certificates will be available on the site over the weekend and we’ll mail all competitors their links.

We’ll see you this Saturday for the first chance to qualify for Nationals 2020: the Leinster Championships 2019 in ABS Powerlifting!

Click here for the IPF National Championships 2019 full results.