Hawke's Bay weightlifters make podium at North Island Championships

(Middle)Renee Baarspul won Gold + NZ Masters record Snatch & Total, for women's 81kg at the recent North Island Championships. Photo / Warren Buckland

A trio of Hawke's Bay weightlifters have had podium finishes at the North Island Championships.

Renee Baarspul, Monique Baarspul-Wilkie and Reuben Cooper all won medals while Jacob Dresser placed fourth at the championships on July 3 and 4 in Feilding.

Baarspul walked away with a gold and NZ Masters record in snatch and total, women's 81kg, Baarspul-Wilkie won bronze in the women's 71kg, Cooper won bronze in the men's 109kg and Dresser was fourth in the men's 81kg.

Cooper, 27, from Napier, said the event was the biggest domestic weightlifting event New Zealand had hosted, with more than 160 competitors.

"In my session, the body weight class, there were 12 or 13 people," Cooper said.

"The competition was split into various weight categories and you are competing with people the same size as you."

(From left) Hawke's Bay Weightlifting Club members Renee Baarspul, Reuben Cooper and Monique Baarspul-Wilkie each earned a place on the podium at the North Island Championships. Photo / Warren Buckland

He said he was chuffed to win at the event, and he intended to keep up his training to compete in the nationals at the end of the year.

"I want to build up to the nationals in Tauranga at the end of the year," he said.

"It was a really cool event, really well put together. We are excited that Hawke's Bay might get a chance to host North Island championships in the future."

Baarspul-Wilkie, 32, said there were 11 people competing in her category.

"So you have to do two different Olympic lifts- snatch, and clean and jerk. So I lifted 75kg in snatch and 85kg in clean and jerk.

"We [her and Renee] have been training for it for a year and a half and it was really good to win a medal. I was only 1kg out from second place."

Baarspul, the gold medal winner, said her gold-winning lift wasn't her best, but it was enough to win the competition.

"I train every day for Crossfit and incorporate lifting into training. I won the nationals last year in this division, so I expected to do well."

She lifted 82kg in snatch, and 103kg in clean and jerk.

"I lifted 1kg higher than nationals," she said.

"It wasn't my best lift but it was enough to win the competition."