Teenage Construction Student Wins Medal at British Weightlifting Championships
A teenage Coleg Llandrillo student who has recently excelled in weightlifting at an all-Wales level, has won his first ever medal at the British Weightlifting Championships.
After a tense final involving six lifts per competitor, 17-year-old Thomas Roberts from Glan Conwy won the bronze medal in the under-17s category of the British Age Group Championships, held at the Army Foundation College in Harrogate, Yorkshire.
The competition is the national Olympic weightlifting championships for athletes aged up to 23 and regularly sees the next wave of competitive weightlifters burst onto the national scene.
Thomas, who is studying on the Foundation In Construction and Building Services Engineering course (Level 2) at the college’s Rhos-on-Sea campus, previously attended Aberconwy High School.
He became interested in the sport after attending a weightlifting event one school lunchtime when he was 13 years of age. He now attends Llandudno Weightlifting Club five days a week, with two of those sessions spent specifically training for competitions.
This is only the fifth competition Thomas has ever entered, and the first at British level. The four Welsh competitions saw Thomas achieve gold in three and silver in the other.
Thomas said: “I am really happy to have won the bronze medal at the British championships. The guys who won gold and silver have been lifting a lot longer than me and are more experienced at national level. I am currently balancing my training with my college course, which is going really well.”
Tutor Mark Harrison said: “We are all very proud of Thomas and his achievements at a national level. He shows great levels of commitment with his weightlifting and his course studies.”
To find out more about Construction, or any other courses at Coleg Llandrillo, please visit www.gllm.ac.uk call the college’s Learner Services team on 01492 542 338, or email: enquiries.llandrillo@gllm.ac.uk
After a tense final involving six lifts per competitor, 17-year-old Thomas Roberts from Glan Conwy won the bronze medal in the under-17s category of the British Age Group Championships, held at the Army Foundation College in Harrogate, Yorkshire.
The competition is the national Olympic weightlifting championships for athletes aged up to 23 and regularly sees the next wave of competitive weightlifters burst onto the national scene.
Thomas, who is studying on the Foundation In Construction and Building Services Engineering course (Level 2) at the college’s Rhos-on-Sea campus, previously attended Aberconwy High School.
He became interested in the sport after attending a weightlifting event one school lunchtime when he was 13 years of age. He now attends Llandudno Weightlifting Club five days a week, with two of those sessions spent specifically training for competitions.
This is only the fifth competition Thomas has ever entered, and the first at British level. The four Welsh competitions saw Thomas achieve gold in three and silver in the other.
Thomas said: “I am really happy to have won the bronze medal at the British championships. The guys who won gold and silver have been lifting a lot longer than me and are more experienced at national level. I am currently balancing my training with my college course, which is going really well.”
Tutor Mark Harrison said: “We are all very proud of Thomas and his achievements at a national level. He shows great levels of commitment with his weightlifting and his course studies.”
To find out more about Construction, or any other courses at Coleg Llandrillo, please visit www.gllm.ac.uk call the college’s Learner Services team on 01492 542 338, or email: enquiries.llandrillo@gllm.ac.uk
