Mackle seems like a good sport. He's much newer to competitive lifting than is Armstrong, and it's not every guy who's self-assured enough to actively compete with a woman in such a fashion.Armstrong impressed by breaking the long-standing New Zealand squat record previously held by former world champion Janelle Woolridge at 162.5kg
Armstrong broke the record by a kilogram, then came out to bench press 75kg and finished the day off with a very strong 150kg deadlift.
Her total of 388.5kg gave her the the best sub-junior lifter trophy and more importantly made sure of her place in the New Zealand team for the Commonwealth Championships later in the year. The 18-year-old's effort in the squat means she should be in contention for the gold, as well as in the deadlift.
Those two lifts were Commonwealth records and an application has been made to have them ratified. Armstrong's coach, her father Brian, said she did exactly what she had trained for. "It was a great effort."
Also helping motivate her to the record was the fact she bet her boyfriend Peter Mackle she would lift more than him in the squat.
Armstrong, who has been lifting for four years, said it helped motivate her and the fact the pair trained together gave her even more motivation.
{mos_ri}
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