The state weight lifting championships the other day gave me another chance to try to reinvent the wheel (well maybe the whole axle).

The space was limited, the light iffy, but character filled it.

The facilities in our small state for many sports are often a little sad, especially considering the talent we produce per head*.

There is currently in a debate over the impending billion dollar “super stadium” build, pushed or more to the point demanded by the lure of a national football team (AFL), but the whole thing seems a bit lop-sided in favour of only one elite sport.

Most other sports have a similar story, like the national grade basketball team the Jackjumpers, who made the final on their first year in the comp. A game at the next level down on their usual playing court was stopped because of a lifted floor board. We avoided the embarrassment of a national game being stopped mid TV broadcast by luck only.

The list goes on and on, but back to the story at hand.

The best shots turned out to be warm-ups in the cramped space next door.

Now that we are focussing on web first publication, we can tell stories with our images, so all angles need to be explored.

One of the lifters here (above) is number three in the country and has her whole career ahead of her, but like so many other “fringe” sport athletes, she is balancing work and training with limited facilities and opportunities.

The 12-40 and 40-150 f2.8’s did most of my heavy lifting.

*More than our quota of international sports stars (we once boasted two national cricket captains at the same time, then a third not long after and always have a disproportionate number of Olympians and world champions for our half a million head count, currently boast one of the best female swimmers in the world, rowers, cyclists etc and more and more we are exporting basketball and soccer players etc). We tend to take this for granted, but the reality is, these people put in the effort with little support and often have to leave to reach their potential.