Youth weightlifting tournament lands down in Maidstone

With athletes as young as 10 coming from as far as Manchester, lots of medals and national titles were up for the taking.

Transcript

00:00 A three-day weightlifting bonanza took place in Maidstone this weekend, as the leisure

00:05 centre saw hundreds of lifters of all different ages and backgrounds step up to the bar.

00:13 Crowds of family members and friends sat in the stands as celebrity athletes like Emily

00:17 Still, a BBC Gladiator contestant with tens of thousands of followers, displayed her strength.

00:23 The biggest lift came from Myron Madden, the newly crowned male under-23s English age group

00:28 champion as he hoisted a hefty 182kg clean and jerk to win gold.

00:34 Behind me you can see the platforms where hundreds of lifters came from across the country

00:40 to show what they're made of.

00:41 Today boys and girls as young as six are stepping up to show their strength.

00:47 Yes, you heard that right.

00:49 Kids as young as six competed in the tournament on Sunday.

00:52 Matt Vine, a former Great British Olympian and current coach at the Maidstone Weightlifting

00:56 Club, spoke about the popularity of the tournament.

00:59 We've run our own small competitions, but to bring a national championship to here and

01:03 have 200 lifters over three days, and from all over the country, it's been enormous.

01:10 I think we've definitely seen one or two people who in a few years' time will be actually

01:14 representing Great Britain.

01:16 With the next Olympics just under six months away, it may be too soon for some to compete,

01:21 but some future stars are certainly on their way.

01:24 One of them being Maidstone's very own Dylan Botton.

01:27 His lifting today earned him gold in the under-10s category.

01:30 Well, it started when I just came in here and I saw they were doing it and I wanted

01:39 to take part.

01:40 And then over the last few weeks, I went for a couple of weeks and I found out I really

01:47 liked it.

01:48 And then I've been doing it for years now.

01:49 And I'm hoping to carry on that journey all the way to the Olympics.

01:55 As the events gains attention from all corners of the country, Councillor David Nagy hopes

02:00 that the events will return to Maidstone.

02:02 We have this in Maidstone over the weekend, and then Monday night, tomorrow night, when

02:08 we could be in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup, it couldn't be any better.

02:13 Maybe every other year they come down to Maidstone, because it isn't the place to be.

02:17 As the British Weightlifting Association travels far and wide on its tours, Maidstone's medalists

02:22 made their mark.

02:23 But where next for these future stars?

02:25 James Hill, KMTV.