Fresh from completing a rare clean sweep of powerlifting titles, Blenheim-based Carli Dillen is shifting her focus.
The 43-year-old recently returned with a gold medal in her category from the International Powerlifting Federation’s Commonwealth Championships in Canada, a huge event involving over 800 competitors. She also claimed the prestigious best overall "Champion of Champions" title, being adjudged the top Masters female lifter across all categories.
Carli travelled to Winnipeg with New Zealand, Oceania, Asia Africa Pacific and World championship titles already under her belt, determined to add the Commonwealth title to her collection, thus clinching every title there is for a NZ Masters (40+) lifter.
She went nine-from-nine in competition in Canada, achieving all her attempts. Carli won the squat with 175kg, the bench press with 96kg and came second in the deadlift with 190kg for a total of 461kg, enough to eclipse her M1 69kg rivals.
She is justifiably proud of herself for achieved such heights over an intense four-year span, “while parenting, running a business, coaching, travelling and navigating getting older”, she adds with a smile.
“I’ve competed a lot, but competing after long haul travel is still hard. A week out from competing I hurt my AC joint and days before lifting I was asking myself - why do I do this, how is this even fun?
“Fast forward to the meet, I started warming up and I knew it was going to be a tough day, and I might not achieve my squat goal … I had to dig deep. Making good decisions in powerlifting means taking what’s there on the day. So, I challenged myself to get every kilo I had.
“Then, by the time we got to bench press, I was really having fun and realised how much I love this sport. I expected bench to be hard too - but then it absolutely flew and in hindsight I could have loaded a little more - but it was a new PB and Commonwealth record.
“In the deadlifts I loaded 10kg more than I’d lifted in training. My competitor matched it at a lighter body weight which gave me a silver but it locked in the “Champion of Champions” title.
“I’ve still got some goals left,” she added. “But most of all I want to continue pushing myself outside my comfort zone. The logistics of finding time to train and compete alone keep me challenged, and well, a world record would be nice …”
In the meantime, the champion lifter has other plans, including what she calls her “passion project”.
Her private training business in Blenheim, Barbell and Beyond, is evolving rapidly, with the involvement of kids, especially teens, skyrocketing.
Carli trains groups of teenagers three times weekly, numbers quickly rising to 20 teams.
And it is certainly not all about lifting weights. The training is multi-code and non-sport-specific, involving participants from a variety of disciplines - including boxing, athletics, basketball, ju-jitsu, MMA, netball, showjumping, touch and water polo.
“A lot of what we do is aimed at injury prevention … the foundations are actually very similar across all sports.
“I put them outside their comfort zones, which builds confidence, plus making them fitter, stronger and faster so they can become better at their chosen sport and ultimately more injury resistant.”
Carli’s business also offers a Youth Athlete Scholarship opportunity, providing places for two or more teens whose parents may have had financial hardship.
Although Carli is not hanging up her powerlifting belt any time soon, especially with NZ and Oceania champs to attend in the forthcoming weeks, she is excited and motivated by what the future holds, both on and off the lifting platform.
