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Former Mahurangi College student Bernie Hall set a world record in the deadlift at the Global Powerlifting Committee (GPC) Nationals held in Te Awamutu, on August 16.
Hall lifted 275.5kg in the Masters 3, 50-54 age category, for athletes weighing under 100kg.
The achievement was even more challenging for Hall, who suffered an accident three months before the competition when he fell 2.3 metres through the ceiling of his attic, aggravating a lower back injury he had been dealing with for 15 years.
“I remember getting up stunned and with a very sore sternum, but without a concussion. I was so lucky. I could have been paralysed, fractured my skull or even died. I must have had an angel sitting on my shoulder that day,” he said.
Hall’s first approach to strength training came when he was 15, when he did press-ups, pull-ups and bicep curls using buckets of water.
However, it was not until he was 39 that he was invited to compete in an amateur Global Powerlifting Committee New Zealand competition in Howick, marking the beginning of his powerlifting journey.
Since then, Hall has achieved several milestones, including a gold medal in the deadlift at the 2025 GPC World Championships in Brazil, competing in the Masters 3 category.
“The world record deadlift was a dream I’ve had for 11 years, since I started taking powerlifting seriously in 2015,” Hall said. “It definitely meant so much to me, my daughter and my family, and it is proof that with unwavering hope and pure perseverance, you can achieve what you set out to accomplish in life.”
