Sunday 23rd November 2025 — The Canolfan Brailsford Sports Centre in Bangor once again played host to a showcase of Welsh and British as the Welsh Winter Open 2025 brought the lifting community together for the final Weightlifting Wales tier 2 national event of the year. Following the Senior Championships the day before, the Winter Open offered a platform for emerging athletes, club competitors, and talent from across the UK to test themselves in a supportive but competitive environment.

Our Open events are a vital occasion in the calendar, giving clubs the chance to showcase developing athletes as well providing a stepping stone for lifters towards national and international qualification.

Some notable highlights from the day included:

• Youth athletes: Several U15 and U17 athletes posted personal bests, demonstrating the strength of the development pipeline. Coaches praised the composure of lifters who managed their first senior‑style competition.
• Women’s divisions: Strong performances across the 49kg–71kg classes, with multiple lifters being successful in multiple snatch and clean & jerk attempts. The technical progress seen in lifters across the classes was a standout theme.
• Men’s divisions: Competitive totals in the 73kg–96kg categories, with several lifters pushing each other for podium positions. Heavyweight classes closed the day with crowd‑pleasing lifts above 140kg in the clean & jerk.

Group 1 — Youth Girls (W53–W69+)

• Bethan Harry (Club 646 Weightlifting, W53): Snatch 63 kg, C&J 77 kg, Total 140 kg — Sinclair 191.4. Bethan stood out with the highest female Sinclair scores of the day, taking home that title as well as also breaking a British Record. Bethan has shown tremendous progression and these results (off the back of competing for Wales in the recent Celtic Nations Championships), prove her selection for next week's Malta International Open event. Noami Burton of Diamond Weightlifting also did really well in this class, hitting a 108kg total (48/60).
• Hazel Williams (Strength Academy Wales, SAW, W58): Snatch 47 kg, C&J 59 kg, Total 106 kg. A gold for Hazel as a consistent performance throughout shone through as she almost went 6 from 6 in perfect lifting but just coming short in a no lift for her final 62kg clean & jerk attempt.
• Isabella Jones (New Wave Weightlifting, W63): Snatch 50 kg, C&J 56 kg, Total 106 kg. A great performance by Isabella to earn her 1st place, closely infront of Iris Hughes who went 6 from 6 in successful lifts for the day.
• Martha Cull (Guardian 6 Weightlifting, W69): Martha progressed from her outing in the last Weightlifting Wales event for the Autumn Open by lifting a 81kg total (36/45).
• Izzabelle Deakin (Diamond Weightlifting, W69+): A set of results of snatch 63 kg, C&J 80 kg, Total 143 kg saw Izzabelle dominate her fellow competitors to take home a gold medal. However, a strong showing by Della Pemberton in silver medal position as she recovered well from a first failed snatch attempt to successfully lift her next five attempts of the day - with a 127 kg total (57/70).

The youth under 12 lifters showed excellent composure, with Hattie Lawton-Jones showing excellent technique as she looks to progress even further next year. As for Nancy Seager, this was her first ever weightlifting competition having come from our current active community programme (stronger together), which was amazing to witness. Nancy showed great composure on the platform and used all she had learned on the stronger together programme on to the competition stage. Coaches of both youth lifters emphasised the importance of consistency and technique which was great to see as the pair of them look build confidence for future tier 2 competitions.

Group 2 — Youth Boys (M52–M88)

• Zach Jones (New Wave Weightlifting, M52) A solid 30 kg snatch and 44 kg clean and jerk saw Zach take home a gold medal for his efforts. Great improvements by him and we look forward to seeing him at our events in 2026.
• Charlie Ellis‑Perry (Diamond Weightlifting, M56): A snatch of 57 kg, and 68 kg clean and Jerk, (total 125 kg) with some outstanding technical precision as shown with 6/6 in successful lifts.
• Evan Williams (Bangor University Weightlifting Club, M60): Snatch 71 kg, clean and jerk 92 kg, Total 163 kg. This resulted in the highest Sinclair score of the group with 253.43, with fantastic emotion shown as Evan successfully lifted his final attempt.
• Iwan Pemberton (Diamond Weightlifting, M71): Snatch 71 kg, clean and jerk 95 kg, for a total of 166 kg following going 6/6 in successful lifts proves a strong development for Iwan and a platform for him to build on for future competitions.
• Connor Smith (Diamond Weightlifting, M78): A 107 kg total (47/60) to earn himself a gold medal after a good performance on the national stage of a tier 2 event.
• Calvin Sin (Unattached, M88): Scores of 91 kg snatch, 100 kg clean and jerk, with a 191 kg total, topped with confident lifting highlighted a great day for Calvin in his first Weightlifting Wales national event.

A great thing to also make note on was the sole youth under 12 lifter, Calvin Tidswell, from New Wave Weightlifting who delivered lifts with fabulous technique guided by his coaches on the day - especially with his clean and jerks.

Group 3 — Senior Women (W53–W86+)

• Meg Gwyther (SA1 Weightlifting, W69): Results of snatch 63 kg, clean & jerk 86 kg for a 149kg total proved to be the standout performance of this session, with a Sinclair of 189.03.
• Ashleigh Sperry (HAWFC, W63): Snatch 52 kg, clean and jerk 66 kg, 118 kg total. Solid lifting, showing resilience in her final 66 c&j attempt.
• Rachel Taylor (Unattached, W86): Gold medal secured in this group for Rachel with a fine display of lifting - snatch 58 kg, clean and jerk 74 kg (132 kg total) Sinclair 148.9.
• Ellen Weller (North Tyneside Barbell Weightlifting Club, W86+): Controlled lifting by Ellen securing her with 1st place on the podium following a snatch of 55 kg, clean and jerk 71 kg (126 kg total).

Guardian 6 Weightlifting athletes including Georgia Knowles (W77), Sally Gardner (W86), Ellie Davies (W86), and Victoria Rees (W86+) filled multiple podiums in the session, demonstrating the brilliant depth of talent in this newly licensed club, lead through the fantastic coaching of Bethan Watkins.

Group 4 — Senior Men (M79–M110+)

• Ashley Jones (New Wave Weightlifting, M79): Competing against fellow New Wave club lifter Lloyd Griffith, Ashley put this relation aside as he showed his class with a gold medal performance by getting into the three figures for his snatch (100 kg), followed by a 125 kg clean and jerk. A 225 kg total represented a Sinclair score of 298.15, which ended up being one of the highest Sinclair scores overall on the day.
• Edward Smale (Atlas WL Centre, M94): With his vast experience on the big stage, Edward shone through in this competition, with lifts of 140 kg snatch, 165 kg clean and jerk, resulting in a 305 kg total — Sinclair 364.09. The single biggest total of the Winter Open, as well as best Sinclair score and walking away with the 'best male lifter' trophy of the day.
• Jordan Burns (Unattached, M88): As the sole M88 competitor, gold medal was destined to go to Jordan, however he earned it well after recovering from two failed clean and jerk attempts to recover on his final attempt. Thereby finishing with results of snatch 100 kg, clean and jerk 120 kg, (220 kg total) — Sinclair 273.49
• Rhys Taplin (Unattached, M110+): Snatch 92 kg, clean and jerk 103 kg was a solid performance by Rhys to round up the gold medalists from the session.

Edward Smale’s 305 kg total was the highlight of this final group, with a commanding presence on the platform that drew great applause from the crowd with his immense power.

The Welsh Winter Open 2025 was more than just a competition, it was a celebration of community, development, and inclusivity. Weightlifting Wales wishes to extend heartfelt thanks to everyone who made the event possible:

• Volunteers and technical officials — Your dedication at all your roles, including weigh‑ins, marshaling, loading, time‑keeping, and refereeing ensured the competition ran smoothly from the first lift to the last.
• Canolfan Brailsford Sports Centre, Bangor — Thank you for providing a professional venue and seamless logistics, hosting back‑to‑back competitions with excellence. And for all the help from your team with event setup and help on reception.
• Coaches and support teams — Your preparation and guidance to all your lifters are a huge help in each of the lifters able to give their best.
• Families and supporters — The atmosphere you created carried lifters through decisive lifts and gave younger athletes the encouragement they needed.
• Photography — A big thank you to Grip and Rip and Sport Pictures Cyrmu for all their contributions in capturing all the action on what was some great lifting enabling us and all involved to showcase how good the event was.
• Athletes — Your courage, discipline, and passion brought the Winter Open to life, showing the depth of talent across all age groups and classes.

Thank you to the National Lottery and Welsh Government (Sport Wales

On behalf of Weightlifting Wales, we extend a huge thank you to the National Lottery and Welsh Government for all their the vital support and funding across this past calendar year in helping us host our national events for 2025. Your funding support, through Sport Wales underpins every element of our events, from the competition equipment to volunteer coordination, is a great contribution to everything running smoothly. 

Therefore, it is a delight in knowing that the significant contributions that all National Lottery players are making to the developments of our sports across our whole nation at all levels. Your playing of the National Lottery has helped create a day where athletes could perform at their best, volunteers could deliver with confidence, and the whole Welsh weightlifting community could celebrate together. 

We look forward to continuing this partnership with National Lottery Good Causes and Welsh Government into 2026 and beyond, delivering even greater opportunities for our key stakeholders.

To find out more about the great projects able to be supported by National Good Causes, find the link to their website below:

https://www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk/