Friday
3rd March is Day 4 of Euro Classic Masters and the focus is entirely on the men’s classes – we have the remaining M2s
all the way through to lightweight M1s.
The
first session will kick off at 8am GMT and we have another NI lifter, George
Millar in the 83kg class. Better known
as an equipped lifter, George lifted both classic and equipped at Masters Worlds
in Canada last year. He picked up a
silver medal for his equipped performance but just missed the podium in classic. He is nominated nearly 20kg ahead of his
nearest rival here so we have our fingers crossed he will be bringing back his first
international title.
Robert
Rodney will lift in the 93kg class.
Multiple time world champion and current world record holder, he is as
well known for bodybuilding (as “Chiselled Ice”) as he is powerlifting. He is undefeated at European level but he has
a mountain to climb at this one. He is a
chunk behind first place in nominations but we know that his nominated total
is a long way off his best so we are still hopeful that we will see that huge
deadlift come into play at the end, and snag him the gold.
The second
session is at 12 noon GMT and features a couple of Brits in the 120kg class.
Scottish
lifter, Derek Forsyth, is a bit of a dark horse. He is nominated at the top of the table in
his first ever international. He’s been
quietly climbing the ranks for the last couple of years and is quite close to
the European deadlift record so it’s going to be interesting to see how he
performs here.
He is joined in class by North West stalwart Dave Charnock. We haven’t seen him on the international stage since before lockdown but he’s been working hard and is making steady improvements so here’s hoping the hard work pays off.
The last
session of the day lifts off at 4pm GMT and we finally break into the M1s. This will be a busy session for the coaches
with 3 Brits lifting.
First
up, Simon Voakes in the 66kg class.
Another master at his first international, Simon has only been competing
for a couple of years. He is undefeated
at the British and he is carrying a fair bit of momentum but he will have his
work cut out to claim a medal in a very competitive class.
David
White is in the 74kg class. He took the
silver medal at this competition last year, pulling valiantly, but unsuccessfully, for the win. This is a stacked class this year though and
he will have to fight hard for every place.
He’s nominated in third place but within reach of the silver – can he
take it again? Only time will tell.
And
then there is Mark Fulton in the 83s. Another
Scottish lifter, World Masters last year was his first international. He took the deadlift gold but narrowly missed
the overall podium at worlds but it seems that the Euros is super
competitive across the board this year and every place will be hard fought.
A
big day for the British team today. Good
luck guys!
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