I took some time to plan my next move after the last competition and decided to aim my sights for the BPU/WPC Grand Prix held in Folkestone each year in August. This competition was fantastic! Very well organised by a great bunch of lifters and always has the interest of its lifters at heart. Training had been less than what I would call satisfactory but nonetheless my time had come and I wasn't about to go down without a fight! With a 7 hour car journey during which time I had done a heavy water cut and dehydration kicking in throughout, I made my way through the journey to the weigh in and made it at 59.8kg. My second attempt, I went for 285kg, matching the record by Lamar Gant and finally showing everyone that what I had been aiming for was only the beginning of what is still to come.

I competed yet again this year and this time, I went for full power at the BPO Tri-Nations competition representing team Scotland along with 'oor' finest Scots lads and with all my brothers of Burns Gym. With an injury I had sustained before my last comp, I wasn't feeling optimistic to say the least. I had torn an intercostal muscle, so my training up to this meet was awful! I couldn't pull anything above 70% of my max and squatting had started to become painful too so I had felt pretty low going into this one but that magic week off prior to the meet worked a treat and I finished with a 185kg Squat, 101kg Bench and 270kg Deadlift. I was delighted! I even got pretty cocky and gave an attempt at extending the record another go with a 290kg final deadlift but once again it glued me to the floor after a very brief moment of ascent. Now I had just 5 weeks to prepare for the WRPF in Moscow, Russia with a list of elite lifters that would have any proud powerlifter buzzing with the anticipation of sharing the platform with these greats let alone being considered to be one of them! Training had yet again began to worry me with my injury affecting anything maximal from being obtained so I took the risk of allowing two full weeks rest before competing to allow some level of recovery. During this time, I had worried about the prospect of what I would be able to achieve there. It weighed on my mind but I did not allow it to dictate any of my decisions. Those two weeks flew in and before I knew it, I boarded my plane to Moscow and arrived with just a few days to spare before the comp. Everything was set and the preparation up until this point throughout the whole year had taken its toll on my body but my mind was ready to go! On the day of the comp, I was pacing around my hotel room, music plugged into my ears, going through this whole journey stage by stage and remembering everything I had fought for. The time was up. No more pacing. Just the calm and quiet journey to the venue as the energy began to build inside me.

As I arrived at the venue, I worked my way around to get familiar with all the procedures at hand, the weigh in room, the warm up area and the platform. The venue and its audience were already as electric as the previous day. I had weighed in at 59.7kg and had felt just how incredible the stage was gonna be as I witnessed Andrey Malanichev break the biggest all time world raw squat with 475kg!! So here I was, about half an hour before kick off to the biggest moment of my powerlifting life and I was in the warm up room throwing plates around with some of the biggest and strongest dudes that walk the planet! Watching Konstantin Konstantinovs as he warms up and how intense the man seems through what you see on youtube isn't half as intense as he was in real life! The man is amazing to watch as he gets everyone around him to go crazy! Before I knew it, our time on stage had been called and I was first up. I opened with a comfortable 250kg to feel out how I thought my injury would hold up... 3 White lights. No issue. On to the second attempt of 270kg. I hadn't touched anywhere near this weight in training as I just couldn't. Again, 3 white lights and flew up quicker than it ever did before. 3rd attempt and I had been advised to go for 280kg but I had traveled all this way and the organisers as well as the Russian people had been so amazing with their support I owed it to them and to myself to attempt the record as it had continued to evade me of recent. Through the back of the platform waiting for my name to be called out... Nickolay, one of the organisers and a friend of mine had called on me to let me know I was up next. By this point I stood up and made my way up the stairs to the stage and could hear the crowd as I was announced and what I was attempting. I chalked my hands, inhaled my smelling salts and with one final roar I made my steps onto the platform to the sound of huge support from the crowd! The arena surrounding me looking like I had just entered the coliseum as it encircled the stage. Boris Sheiko as center judge, Ed Coan to my side, this moment was so surreal. I wrapped my hands around the bar repeating the words in my head, 'get this f**ker moving and its yours!' I began to pull and felt a tear in my lower back area immediately but the bar was moving and it continued to climb!! As it began to lift off the ground the crowd went WILD!! The noise roared and the whole place came alive with screams in many different languages! It all felt so slow with thoughts entering my head to put it back down before I snapped but if you want something bad enough, it doesn't matter the cost.. I wasn't gonna let that bar go till it physically stopped ascending! Each inch it gained, I felt more and more pressure in my back till eventually, the bar stopped dead. All I had to do was push my hips through another couple inches and I'd have had it! I held on as long as I could fighting against the inevitable fact that it was done. My back could not hold out any longer. I dropped the bar and everything went silent as I slowly rose back up to wave to the crowd and show my gratitude for their respect and support throughout. With a huge round of applause and cheer, I left the stage feeling like a winner knowing that the weight did not defeat me, it has only given me more motivation to come back next year and finish it.