Fresh from their seventh consecutive Varsity victory, the Cambridge University Powerlifting Club (CUPLC) recently took their men’s and women’s teams to British University Championships (BUCS), with a total of 34 lifters competing across the weekends of 23-24th of March and 13-14th April 2019.

The men’s team performed exceptionally well. They had podiums across 3 weight classes - Remi Rufus-Toye placed 1st in the 66kg class. CUPLC Captain Raghul Parthipan, reigning 66kg champion,  moved up and placed 1st in the 74kg class this year. He was joined by Angus Coyne-Grell in 3rd place. CUPLC President Salman Khan continued his domination of the 83kg class, placing 1st for the third time and setting a new British record deadlift of 305.5kg. This along with other strong performances across weight classes led the men’s team to win the competition for the 2nd year running.

The women’s team were also hugely successful. For many of the lifters, it was their first (hopefully of many) competition experience, so the aim of the day was to gain confidence and make as many successful lifts as possible. Every lift in your first competition is already a personal best, after all! For our more experienced lifters, we had two podiums - Amrita Panesar placed 2nd in the 52kg class, and returning alumna Suzanne Goulder further boosted the overall score, placing 2nd in the 72kg class. These performances helped place the women’s team 6th overall.

The resulting team performances have allowed the men’s team to qualify for the University World Championships in Tartu, Estonia. Here they will compete again at the end of July, representing the University of Cambridge and Great Britain on the world stage.