A TEAM of seven from Kidderminster’s Unique Fitness gym came away from the British Championships with 14 records and six national titles.

The two-day event held at Bath University saw strength athletes compete from all over the UK, all aiming to break records and compete for the title in their respective classes.

Such was the Wyre Forest outfit’s dominance that all seven have been picked to represent Britain at the European Championships in Amersterdam this June.

In the bench press only event, Tony Brown saw his old under-110 kilogram 40 to 44-years British European and World bench press records fall to teammate Rob Preston, who became British champion with a very impressive and explosive lift of 247.5kg.

“Records are there to be broken and it was great to see Rob perform so well and take it,” commented Brown.

Brown, who has moved into the masters under-110kg 45-49 class, became British Champion in his section and set new European and world records with the biggest lift of the day when he bench pressed 252kg.

In the under-125kg masters 50-54 class, Harry Whale broke the British bench press record on his opening lift and went on to put 15kg onto the current record with a explosive last lift of 205kg.

Captain Steve Knight said: ”Tony , Rob and Harry train together three mornings a week for two hours just on bench press , this is the type of commitment you need to be world champion.

“Harry is new to the sport and has broken the British record eight times since he started powerlifting in October last year.”

In the powerlifting event, Roy Brown competed in the under-90kg masters 60 to 64 class and broke the British and European records in squat, bench press and deadlift with lifts of 150kg, 80kg and 180kg respectively. He also became British champion with a total of 410kg.

Dave Clements, competing in the under 90kg 6 5to 69 age group, broke the British, European and world records on the squat with a lift of 180kg. Clements also had 120kg bench press and 180kg deadlift and clinched the national title with a total of 480kg. His efforts saw him crowned best overall masters powerlifter in the competition.

Skipper Knight became British champion in the under-100kg open class with lifts of 280kg (squat), 205kg (bench press) and 200kg (deadlift), a total of 755kg .

Dave Mills, who competed in the under-110kg open class, came a very close runner-up with lifts of 280kg squat, 220kg bench press, and 275kg deadlift with a total of 775kg.

Whale competed in the powerlifting as well as the bench press only competition and became British Champion in the under-125kg masters 50 to 54 years class with lifts of 210kg squat, 205kg bench press (British record) and 220 deadlift with a total of 635kg.

Knight said: "It was a great competition and the team performed very well to dominate the whole event. All seven athletes have been picked to represent Great Britain in the European championships in Amsterdam in June this year.

"It was great to see the old men of the team do so well with Roy and Dave breaking so many records over 60 years of age”.