The 8th annual Grip Strength Invitational may have been the last individual competition with a new team format proposed for 2025.  (Nanaimo Kettlebell Club)

By Dan Marshall

Lift Off

Local Kettlebell competition still going strong in eighth year

Sep 30, 2024 | 11:05 AM

NANAIMO — The 8th annual Grip Strength Invitational kettlebell event brought out competitors of all types.

There were just under 20 competitors who took to the platforms at Cross Fit Nanaimo on the second weekend of September.

Organizer Solomon Macys said there are many different goals for the lifters.

“Every year is a little bit different. The average age at my club is 51 years old so a lot of these people are making progress, others are trying to get back to where they were and others are trying new things.”

Most of the athletes were from Nanaimo with Victoria, Comox and Seattle also represented.

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Macys shared some of the different success stories from this year’s competition.

“Rachel Robertson hit national qualification numbers in snatch. In the veterans division Marie Agusto made the national standard and could potentially join up with Team Canada and lift at World’s if she wanted to. Jim Edwards just recently turned 70 and is working with a 16kg bell and it’s really nice to see him challenge himself.”

As the competition has evolved more and more lifters are moving towards heavier kettlebells.

“We continue to see a little bit more progress,” Macys said. “When we started we had a sea of 8kg bell classes and now it’s fairly rare to see an 8kg lifter even for new people coming in. We’re starting them off a little bit higher and we’re retaining a lot of lifters so they’re making progress going up to 12kg, 16kg and beyond.”

During the COVID-19 pandemic there was a move towards submissions on video but this year all but one competitor performed live in Nanaimo.

The next major kettlebell events in BC are a regional meet in Victoria in November and the Nationals in Armstrong in March of 2025.

Macys said changes are coming for next year’s Grip Strength Invitational with a new team format expected in 2025.

“My plan for next year is to put the independent sets on hold. What I’d like to do is more of a tournament style with teams of five lifters and each lifter lifts three minutes at a time. Every team would go up in a jerk event and accumulate points, then all the teams would do a snatch event and then in the final round there would be long cycle. I still need to do a bit more research on exactly how I might want to structure the tournament”

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