Hawaii’s Iron Athletics Weightlifting lifts big in National competition, hopes to grow the sport
HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - Hawaii’s Iron Athletics Weightlifting team took a trip to New Mexico last weekend to compete in the USA Weightlifting North American Open Series 2 — with their own Marcus Stevens winning big.
“I just really love weightlifting and I’m glad I won for all of us in Hawaii.” Stevens told Hawaii News Now.
Stevens competed in the 109 kgs category where he took home wins in the Snatch and Clean and jerk lifts.
On top of his own feats of strength, Stevens was in attendance to watch his fellow lifters perform on the platform — many for the first time.
“So for a lot of our lifters, this was their first ever competition on a big stage, in front of lights and cameras and people.” Stevens said. “So for them to compete on that big stage and do very well and handle that pressure was really, really awesome to see.”
Two other lifters from Iron Athletics finished in the top five of their weight categories, a successful weekend that Stevens hopes puts more eyes on Weightlifting, a sport that would otherwise go unnoticed in the islands.
“This is for us in Hawaii, you know our very small or very intimate Hawaii weightlifting community.” Stevens said. “This win is not just mine, its for everybody here and hopefully out of this win, we get more people involved with weightlifting and feeling inspired to do even greater things than I did.”
Weightlifting gets most of it’s attention every four years during the Olympic Games, but Stevens has been a constant supporter of the sport he loves and says that there’s no better place to find lifters than right here in Hawaii.
“I’ve been such an advocate for the sport in Hawaii because it’s like why not try weightlifting you know you’re going to get good at it, you’re kind of built for it, this is where you’re supposed to be.”
Stevens was able to snatch 140 kgs or 308 lbs, while being able to clean and jerk 175 kgs or 385 lbs.
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