The Cayman Islands Powerlifting Organization hosted its second annual powerlifting nationals earlier this month.
Tony McInerney, president of the powerlifting organisation, told the Compass that this year’s event on 12 April was “a great success”. Ten athletes competed and were spread out across various male and female divisions in squats, bench press and deadlift sets.
One competitor, Brent Buckner, 62, hasn’t let age limit his sporting ability and led the way as the only Master III lifter who participated in this year’s event.
McInerney refers to Buckner’s participation as “fantastic” and added, “It shows that this sport is for any age.”
He highlighted that there were no injuries and said, “Everybody hit some personal bests.”
The various age categories in the recent competition included:
Sub-Junior (SJ) 14-18 years old Junior (J) 19-23 years old Open (O) 24 to 39 years old Masters (M) Master I: 40-49 years old
Master II: 50-59 years old
Master III: 60-69 years old
Master IV: 70+ years old
“We had competitors who had never competed before,” McInerney said.
New lifters Destiny Cascante, Shaan Vats and David Bodden added excitement to the event. McInerney said there were a few newcomers who “really enjoyed it and would like to compete more for Cayman”.
There were a few women who also competed, which he felt was fantastic to see.
“We expect to see more females get involved in the sport,” he said.
He said the sport doesn’t get much recognition locally, although the competitors have won a lot of championships over the years.
For McInerney, the importance and value of the sport goes beyond winning titles and gaining personal bests.
He said, “We would love to see more support from private companies to come in and support us and to help us develop this sport in our young people, and especially in the after-school programmes or anything like that, that we can possibly help these young people to have another outlet to let go of some of this anxiety, depression [and] even some anger.”
He shared that two of the 10 athletes that competed in this year’s nationals were Caymanians who live in the USA. Some of the other participants who normally compete were not able to attend this year as they are studying abroad.
Arianna McCoy and Callum Smith are two Cayman lifters studying overseas and competing for their respective universities.
McInerney said education comes first, but added that he won’t let the athletes’ studies prevent them competing in the upcoming North American Regional Powerlifting Championships, which will be hosted in Cayman from 27 July to 2 Aug., while most students are on summer break.
“We’re expecting over 400 athletes at that particular competition,” he said.
Daniel Foley, one of the association’s top junior lifters for Cayman, attempted a North American record last year. Although he was not successful in his attempt, McInerney said, “Daniel continues to improve on his lifting, and we expect some good things in years to come with him.”
Foley did not compete in this year’s nationals as he is currently studying overseas in Ireland. He competes at his university and will return to Cayman in July for the championships.
“There’s a lot of potential on the island for this particular sport and our younger competitors to get out there and compete on an international platform and to continue to win medals and trophies and break records,” McInerney said.
Final results of the compeition:
Name Division Heaviest Squat Heaviest Bench Heaviest Deadlift Destiny Cascante Female Junior 45KG 30KG 77.5KG Destiny Cascante Female Open 45KG 30KG 77.5KG Maya Moise Female Junior 157.5KG 70KG 185KG Maya Moise Female Open 157.5KG 70KG 185KG Tony McInerney Male Master II 245KG 62.5KG 275KG Tony McInerney Male Open 245KG 62.5KG 275KG Bogdon Nickolic Male Guest 275KG 177.5KG 300KG Kevauny Tulloch Male Guest 182.5KG 102.5KG 242.5KG Brian Cascante Male Junior 172.5KG 117.5KG 192.5KG Brian Cascante Male Open 172.5KG 117.5KG 192.5KG Brent Buckner Male Master III 102.5KG 90KG 145KG Brent Buckner Male Open 102.5KG 90KG 145KG Shaan Vats Male Sub-Junior 100KG 70KG 140KG Shaan Vats Male Open 100KG 70KG 140KG David Bodden Male Open 155KG 150KG 210KG Rudy Moise Male Open 145KG 95KG 162.5KG
