Jazz Hepi brings home the medals and set Oceania record

Jazz Hepi, Whanganui weightlifter in her Nefarious Gym. Photo / Paul Brooks

Jazz Hepi of Nefarious Gym in Wilson St recently took a group of women through weightlifting paces in a session titled Ladies Who Lift. She loved it.

It was also a fundraiser to help her get to the 2023 Masters World Cup held in conjunction with the Oceania and Commonwealth Masters Championships in March.

“That was in Auckland. It was New Zealand’s first major weightlifting competition. We had people from Jamaica, Canada, Great Britain, some European countries, Ireland, all over the show. It was truly international.”

Jazz says the competition was for weightlifters aged 35 plus. She says some of the older weightlifters, some in their 70s and 80s, had been award-winning athletes in their prime and are still lifting big weights.

Jazz came home with three medals, one gold, two silver, and set a new record in the Oceania title and she still holds the record in the 35-year division.

“I got first place in Oceania in my weight and age category. I entered the under 71kg division in the 40-45 age group.”

Jazz has recently changed division having turned 40 last month.

“I was the baby in this one, competing against a whole different bunch of ladies.

“I also came second in the world and in the Commonwealth.”

Pretty good, considering she went into the competition with an injury.

“I rehabbed it and trained for more than a year. There was no way I was not going to compete.”

Overall there were more than 300 competitors and the organisers ran three sessions a day.

“They went all out and put on a spectacle.”

The event was held at Grand Millenium. “There was lots of good feedback about it.”

Jazz Hepi in competition at the World Masters, competing in the 90kg clean and jerk. Photo / Supplied

Jazz says she has learned a lot from her sport.

“Weightlifting has taught me resilience. You put yourself out there and you can do anything, even the work that builds up to it. I just love it.”

She is now hoping to compete in the North Island champs coming up in June in Hawke’s Bay but is definitely going to the nationals in October in Hamilton.

Jazz is an inspiration and she hopes she can entice other women into the sport.

“I’d love it to be a thing in Whanganui. It’s great for other sports people. There’s a lot of speed and power coming from the ground. It builds strength, but also mental resilience.”