On the weekend, the Just Lift Weightlifting Club of Ottawa played host to the Ontario Weightlifting Association’s Young Hercules Championship.
The even was for athletes 17 and under.
The Norsemen and Valkyries Club sent five representatives to the contest.
For the second year running, Bronwynn Sheppard of the Valkyries took the title in the female 53 kilo class, and she did so in a most convincing fashion. Indeed, she broke all her personal records to finish with 55 kilos in the two hand snatch lift, and 74 kilos in the two hand clean and jerk, for a 129 kilo total.
In early June, at the Toronto Open contest, the seventeen year old Bronwynn posted a total of 125, in the same weight class. Now, she is only one kilo shy of the qualifying mark- 130 kilos in the 53 kilo category- to lift at the 2015 National Senior championship.
Also on Saturday, two younger members of the Valkyries won silver medals in their respective divisions. One weight class up, at 58 kilos, fourteen year old Zara Sheppard made 40 in the snatch and 48 in the clean and jerk. Then, one category above, at 63 kilos, Olivia Talbot made 33 and 40.
Olivia, also fourteen, in an effort to gain valuable team points, chose to weigh-in slightly over the 58 kilo limit, at 52.8. The first time lifter made all six or her attempts, and her second place was worth 25 points for the North Bay contingent.
The locals earned one more silver medal, in the male 51 class. There, novice lifter Dryden Rivet, like Talbot, made all six of his attempts. Rivet, thirteen years of age, hoisted 36 kilos in the snatch and 40 in the clean and jerk.
The majority of the lifters present at the contest were in the International Weightlifting Federation’s Youth age grouping – 13 to 17 years. But the contest actually kicked off with a special category, for 10, 11, and 12 year olds, called the mini-Hercules.
At this level, athletes scored half their points according to bodyweight and amount lifted, with the other half coming from points for the proper execution of the snatch and clean and jerk movements, as well as a bonus for successful attempts.
Twelve-year-old Dylan Hall-Archibald of the Norsemen made lifts of 26 kilos in the snatch and 28 in the clean and jerk. Dylan weighed 60.4 kilos, succeeded with five of his six attempts, and finished fourth in the boys’ rankings.
There were eleven teams represented in the Young Hercules event. The championship banner, based on the scoring of the top four lifters on each squad, went to the Belleville Barbell Club with 107 points. The Norsemen and Valkyries were second with 103 points, and the Variety Village Weightlifting Club of Scarborough place third with 84 points.
File photo of Bronwynn Sheppard
