SWINDON’S Charlie Shotton-Gale claimed the British Powerlifting title and records along the way.

Shotton-Gale enjoyed immense success at the British Juniors and Seniors Powerlifting Championships in Moulton, Northamptonshire, where she defended her crown to take the title for the fifth time.

She opened her competition with a 192.5kg squat and completed it easily to move on to 202.5kg. Last year Shotton-Gale managed to successfully squat 210kg and she went on to raise 212.5kg to take the British record.

Reflecting on the lift, she said: “As I took the weight out of the rack it was the best take out of the day and the weight felt good on my shoulders.

“As I descended I was so focused on hitting depth that I drove hard out of the bottom of the squat and couldn’t believe how easily it came up.”

Next up was the bench press, in which she has struggled recently due to injury but she reached 127.5kg, which is the heaviest weight she has attempted for over a year. Shotton-Gale managed to complete 80 per cent of the press but just faltered toward the end and failed the lift.

The competition moved on to the deadlift and, following two successful lifts of 180kg and 190kg, Shotton-Gale and coaches Karl Marillier and her dad Clive Shotton-Gale decided to go for the British deadlift record of 200kg. Though she narrowly missed out on the last lift, she was delighted to claim her fifth British title and her first ever British record for equipped powerlifting.

She said: “I am so happy to have finally achieved something I have been after for years. “I have been chipping away at the numbers each year getting closer and closer, then finally achieving the record.”

In September, Shotton-Gale and partner Marillier will together attempt to lift the combined weight of GWR’s Kings Class Locomotive, which weighs in at 89 tonnes.

The challenge is designed to raise money to send Shotton-Gale to the World Powerlifting Championships in USA in November, but she will also be donating one third of the funds raised to Breaking Free Womens support charity. She said: “Nearly three years ago I shaved my hair off for Breaking Free and managed to raise nearly £3,000 for them. “This year the challenge is so much bigger I want to aim to raise the same amount for them but raise money for myself to be able to represent my country again. “It is why I train six days a week every week of the year so that I can lift for Great Britiain”.

If you would like to try your hand at Powerlifting please get in touch with Shotton-Gale via her website www.sg-fitness.co.uk or pop in to Kiss Gyms Swindon to talk to her and join the Kiss Gyms Powerlifting Club.