Bethnal Green Weightlifting Club

Earlier this week we had a visit from an IPF Hall of Famer, Susan Elwyn.

Susan has been competing for over 50 years across the USA and the Virgin Islands and is due to compete at this years World Masters in Reno at age 79! This will be both classic AND equipped.

Best of luck Susan! It was great to host such a prominent person in powerlifting and is always welcome back to BG 💚

Last month BGWLC had the pleasure to host the Greater London Summer Divisional Champs.

We had many lifters take part and much to celebrate!

Rani kicked us off with a huge 112.5kg squat, a +2.5kg PB, with a matched deadlift and total to follow. Getting closer to a 3x BW deadlift!

Alba then followed with a great day. Not only did Alba qualify for the British champs later this year, she also had a huge 7.5kg deadlift PB and a very strong squat and bench.

We finished the women’s session off with Annalisa who also secured a QT for the Britis champs. Anna added 5kg to her squat and rounded the day off with a huge 7.5kg PB on deadlifts.

We’re looking forward to seeing how everyone progresses in the second half of the year and hoping for some big performances at the British

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Rani kicked us off with a huge 112.5kg squat, a +2.5kg PB, with a matched deadlift and total to follow. Getting closer to a 3x BW deadlift!

Alba then followed with a great day. Not only did Alba qualify for the British champs later this year, she also had a huge 7.5kg deadlift PB and a very strong squat and bench.

We finished the women’s session off with Annalisa who also secured a QT for the Britis champs. Anna added 5kg to her squat and rounded the day off with a huge 7.5kg PB on deadlifts.

This week we said goodbye to Colin as he moves on to new adventures. 

Colin has been a member of BGWLC since 2021 and has certainly been a member to remember. 

Not only has he been leading our spotting and loading teams this year at GL comps, Colin is dedicated and hardworking and will be missed as a part of our BGWLC family. While none of our foam rollers have been left untouched by his unique stretching techniques, Colin will always be welcomed back with open arms and a free Eleiko. 

Good luck Colin!

Continuing on with our second instalment of looking at what makes BGWLC home for so many, this month we chat to Micky about his time here and what it all means to him.

Micky trains and competes as an Oly lifter and is currently our Olympic Weightlifting coach. However, Micky has been attending BG for nearly 50 years and has also trained as a powerlifter, as well as having fitted our iconic hanging barbell (swipe to see!)

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Southern Masters

We hosted a great day of lifting on Saturday with the Southern Masters. BG had five lifters competing, all putting up solid totals (only 3 missed lifts across all 30 attempts!). As always thanks to all those who came down to support, helped with running the competition, and to the competitors themselves.

Results:
Micky (M55, 71kg) - 45/50/x53 | 65/70/76 | 126kg total 🥈
Will (guest, +110kg) - 55/60/65 | 80/85/90 | 155kg total
Chris (M35, 89kg) - 68/x73/73 | 81/86/91 | 164kg total 🥇
Jeremy (M35, 96kg) - 67/71/75 | 94/100/105 | 180kg total 🥈
Matthias (M40, +110kg) - 73/78/82 | 95/x100/100 | 182kg total 🥇

Shout out to Will who went 6 for 6 in his first comp 👏

Also to Jeremy who, after us running unexpectedly ahead of schedule, cycled all the way from South Woodford, warmed up in 10 minutes, followed himself on all his snatches, and still went 6 for 6! 😁

Last month we had multiple lifters take on the platform at the 2026 Britsh Classic Masters in Edinburgh and some huge numbers all around.

Day 1 kicked off with Mac and Thomas lifting who both won second best lifter in their age category!

💥 Mac had a strong start with a solid matched PB on squat and rounding off the day with both a deadlift PB and a total PB of 5kg. Mac finished strong, placing gold in his weight and age category.

💥 Thomas smashed it out the park with not only one British record on his squat, but a second record with his deadlift. All round Tom finished gold in his weight and age category and two British records doesn’t sound too shabby!

💥 We finished the weekend with Reece. Reece’s squats have been absolutely flying this prep and he added 5kg onto his PB. He finished with a whopping 7.5kg PB on his deadlift, an overall 2.5kg PB total and silver in his weight and age category.

Massive congrats to all lifters!

BG family showing up strong as per

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Last month we had many lifters take on the platform at the 2026 Britsh Classic Masters in Edinburgh and some huge numbers all around!

Day 1 kicked off with both Mac and Thomas lifting.

💥 Mac had a strong start with a solid matched PB on squat and rounding off the day with both a deadlift PB and a total PB of 5kg. Mac finished strong, placing silver in his weight and age category.

💥 Thomas smashed it out the park with not only one British record on his squat, but a second record with his deadlift. All round Tom finished gold in his weight and age category and two British records doesn’t sound too shabby!

💥 We finished the weekend with Reece. Reece’s squats have been absolutely flying this prep and he added 5kg onto his PB. He finished with a whopping 7.5kg PB on his deadlift, an overall 2.5kg PB total and silver in his weight and age category.

Massive congrats to all lifters!

BG family showing up strong as per

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Top lifts from our BG crew at our friendly match against Hackney Weightlifting Club a few weeks back.

Thanks to HWLC for hosting us! Stay tuned for round 2 soon 💪

Alison: 25/45
Cristina: 33/53
Jamie: 73/84
Matthias: 80/100
Josh: 98/122

Welcome to our new monthly series where we take a look at the history of our powerlifting and weightlifting members to see what they love about training with the BGWLC family.

We’re kicking it all off with BG long-timer Thomas Celestin.

Not only has Tom racked up numerous records across his time in the sport, he has also spent nearly 30 years training at BGWLC.

Here’s to another 30 with us Tom!

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