A small Nambour club with huge spirit is lifting above its weight to host three state titles events in April.

The Sunshine Coast Weightlifting Club has been granted the rights to host the Queensland Under 13, Under 15 and Youth (Under 17) State Championships. 

The event will run from Friday to Sunday April 8-10 at the club headquarters at Crusher Park, in Crusher Park Drive, Nambour. 

“This is the first major event for our club in five years,” said Club Spokesperson Nicole Deans. “We will have competitors from all over Queensland come to compete. Weightlifting is a very technically demanding sport, the skills and techniques that these young athletes will display at the State Championships will be of a very high standard.”

Weightlifters will compete within bodyweight categories as well as age groups. The State Championships will be a qualifying event for the U15 and Youth National Titles to be held in June.

Sunshine Coast has a number of talented youth weightlifters who will be competing at this event across all age groups.  “Currently we have two youth lifters, Levi Deans and Chloe Saliba, both 15 years of age, who are members of Australian Youth squads,” said Nicole.

“The squads are a pathway for these talented athletes to build their skills for future national and international competitions, in particular Commonwealth and Olympic games.”

Levi is a State and National record-holder, as well as a State and National Champion lifter.  Levi and Chole also compete above their age groups as both have made qualifying totals to compete as U20 and U23 lifters. 

“Both lifters will attend intensive weightlifting camps at the AIS this year,” said Nicole. 

“Other club members we expect to do well at the Championships are Jayda Allen and Jesse Saliba.  Our athletes have been very busy training in the lead up to this event. This will be a wonderful opportunity for these lifters to lift in front of a home crowd.

“We are a small not-for-profit club with a wonderful community spirit.”

Contact head coach Barry Harden on 0439 278 707 or Nicole on 0413 514 954 for further information about the club.