European Classic Masters 2023 - British M3 Women's Team

The M3 57kg ladies got off to a difficult start on squats. Val Dourley came into this competition as the European record holder at 110kg but she looked uncomfortable under the bar and took three attempts to get 102.5kg. This opened the door for team mate Deborah Tiernan who smoked 110kg for the European M3 record and the squat gold. Val struggled a little on bench but held on to second place at sub-total. Deb steamed ahead though, extending her lead and taking the bench gold with a well judged 65kg.

Val hit some fierce competition as we went into deadlift and she slipped a little behind. A valiant pull to make it onto the podium didn't quite come off and she had to settle for 4th place on bodyweight. A tough day in the office for Val. Deb was in the ascendant though and she took the British deadlift and total records with her second pull at 132.5kg. She attempted 140kg to take the European total record but it wasn't quite there. Nevertheless, she cleared all four gold medals, adding 10kg to her total from World Masters and becoming European Champion for the first time.

Meanwhile, Jenny Hunter in the 52s took it relatively easy on squats, getting all three in and ending up on 65kg.  She benched nearly as much, taking the bench gold with 60kg, miles ahead of her nearest rival.  There is a reason that she holds European bench records in two weight classes! She lost out on the deadlift silver by a few hundred grams of bodyweight and ended up with the overall bronze.

Caroline Calver looked a little off her usual form. Nevertheless, she plugged away, making a respectable 7 out of 9 lifts for a 247.5kg total and 5th place in the 69kg class

In the 63ks, Susan Sabuda gave us a fright by being very late to the platform for her opener, getting the squat command with only 1 second on the clock. Joan Trimble in the same class looked very much at home though. She has the European record at 117.5kg and made 115kg look very easy on her second. She called for a world record attempt of 120.5kg on her third and looked very calm and focussed throughout but unfortunately the lift was turned down on depth. The strength is definitely there though so I'm sure it will go next time.

Joan broke her own British record to take the bench gold with 60kg. Susan got in on the action too, winning the bronze medal with a matched PB of 52.5kg. Joan made it a clean sweep of British records and gold medals with a 147.5kg deadlift, taking her first international title into the bargain.

With two European champions, the silver team award comes home to Blighty and Deborah Tiernan was 3rd place Best Lifter. A great result for the M3 Classic team!