The GSU competition year drew to a close last Saturday (12th Nov) with the 2016 British Championship. Superbly hosted by BigKat in Harrogate, this was another competition marked by it’s friendly atmosphere and inclusive nature! We have been seeing the expansion of events requested by GSU members over the last year: doubles for women, junior categories, lighter bells and singles for male beginners and this competition was a showcase for this diversity in the sport.

Many of the newer faces to the kettlebell sport scene are already showing amazing progression, and the juniors already showed great skill in their first ever competition! It’s also great to see more seasoned competitors trying out the challenge of moving up kettlebell weight or trying out different events, along with those using the event as more of a de-load from the International competition season and so maybe trying a lighter weight and different pacing scheme.

With the newly collated UK records we can now track the records broken at each competition and these are listed below, however this shouldn’t take away from the achievement of every lifter taking to the platform whether it’s for the first, or fifty-first time! For full results you can check here: British Championship Results and for a full list of records see here: UK Records

The GSU can’t thank Chris Guyll, Becky Fraser, Dave Moore, Chanelle Mcgill, Nick Johnson and rest of the BigKat Fitness and Martial Arts and OKSE team enough for hosting a very smoothly run, friendly and professional competition. Thanks too to Organisation of Kettlebell Sport England for the use of their timers for the day, to everyone who helped out with judging, moving equipment and to all the sponsors including GSU’s main sponsor Wolverson Fitness.

The 2016 GSU Scottish Championship was hosted by Ray Wilson & his club Kettlebells Aberdeen. Below is a  brief write-up of the event taken from Ray’s own report of the day and full results can be found after the text. Over to Ray:

Whoa, whatta weekend!
We were delighted to host one of the big 4 GSU events in what was a great day of kettlebell sport.

We had local, national and international competitors take to the platform in the Biathlon and Long Cycle Events, and they included record holders such as Abi Johnston from Scotland, Eddie Sheehan from Ireland and Kimberley Fox from America.

These guys did not disappoint on the day, putting on amazing performances – Abi with 20kg Biathlon (double Jerk), Eddie putting up huge numbers with the 32kg bells and Kimberley handling double 24kg in the ladies Long Cycle. Danish veteran athletes Inge and Dorothe were also inspiring, both lifting 20kg Double Long Cycle.

I am always inspired by this sports ability to offer so much. Winslie, 63, committed just about 3 months training for this and what would be his first competitive event – ever. Winslie was excited at the opportunity to test himself at a competition that was on his doorstep. While his lifts were not strictly in the GSU list of available events, the GSU and I were inspired by his enthusiasm and development that it was a no brainer to get Winslie up there on the platform in front of a supportive and growing crowd.

This reflects so nicely what kettlebell training can offer us – the development of a past time  and hobby into more dedicated lifting, into testing yourself, improving your fitness and striving to achieve better results. Brilliant.

I have to give a big thanks to everyone involved with the organisation and preparation of the day. The GSU provided preparation advice, the bells and timers (Mark, Abi and Angelina). The guys at Wolverson Fitness provided the winners prizes and the KBA team on the day provided loads of support – Lou, John, Phil, Karen, Sian and Caz & Connor.

The Hilton Convention Centre itself was very supportive and accommodating and I received great complements for the venue itself.

 Also thanks to the raffle contributors – Walkers, Food for Fitness, Rustico Restaurant, Glen Garioch, Wolverson Fitness, The Fire Training Group and the GSU. Their prizes made for happy raffle winners and resulted in support of the KBA team.

So thats that for another wee while. I was so excited to deliver another kettlebell competition in Aberdeen again and with big support and visitors to the event, it shows that our sport continues growing from strength to strength. I look forward to doing it again!

]]> http://www.girevoysportsunion.com/official-competition-kettlebells/ http://www.girevoysportsunion.com/official-competition-kettlebells/#respond Wed, 12 Mar 2014 21:24:38 +0000 http://www.girevoysportunion.com/?p=708 Continue reading "Official Competition Kettlebells"