Puxley powers to gold meal glory
Thursday, 9th August 2001.
The Haverhill-based athlete flew out to New Jersey in America at the weekend to compete in the International Under-21 Wheelchair Championships.
Despite only being involved in the sport for four months, the 18-year-old went to the contest with the British Weiglilhifting Association for the Disabled and saw off competition from American and German opponents.
He triumphed in the bench press and powerlifting — and because he lifted a combined weight of 700 lbs Puxley won three golds, smashing a trio of world records for his age and weight category in the process.
He beamed: “I am really chuffed. I got ranked eighth in the world as a novice under-21 and winning these and breaking the records should move me up.
“That will mean I can enter more competitions.”
His Stateside success follows a bronze at the National Wheelchair Championships in Cardiff and is the highpoint in a whirlwind start to Puxley’s powerlifting career.
“I started when I went down to a training weekend in Bristol. I was just doing a bit of weights to keep in shape.
“One of the coaches noticed me and said I was awfully strong for my age, so on the internet 1 looked up the British Weightlifting Association for the Disabled.
“I spoke to one of the coaches and ended up going down to the National Championship in Cardiff. After that I was invited to the American competition.”
Puxley, who is partially wheelchair-bound because of a nervous muscular disorder, said his coach Kevin Hobbins deserved to share his success for training him at Haverhill Sports Centre - after the pair met in a pub.
“You find a lot of top athletes in pubs,” laughed Puxley.
“I was finding it hard to find a coach because they all lived miles away from Haverhill, but then I bumped into this bloke Kevin Hobbins down the pub and he became my coach.”
Now Puxley has experienced success he has got a taste for it — he hopes to take part in another competition before Christmas as he goes from strength to strength.
• Puxley is looking for sponsorship to pay for a new wheelchair. Call Hobbins on 01440 706677.
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