By DAVID LEE
BOSTON CORNERS–Not one to rest on his laurels, Mike Burch has broken another weightlifting record for his age and weight. Competing in the St. Patrick’s Day Classic at the Steel Beach Gym in Oakville, CT, he dead-lifted 515 pounds. Mr. Burch lifted in the 220lb body weight classification and in the 70-74 age category and used single-ply wraps. He was by far the most senior lifter of the day.
“It was easy, up like a feather,” he said. The typical powerlifting competition scores in three events, the bench press, squat lift and dead lift. In addition to his dead lift, he squat lifted 215 lbs. and bench pressed 100 lbs. That low number he attributed to a bad rotator cuff in his shoulder.
But he was still quite happy. “I am really blessed. At the age that I am, I can still be on the platform.”
In the Vinnie Vardine Classic last November his dead-lift was 505 and squat was 210. Mr. Burch next plans to compete in the Pan-American Games in Brattleboro, VT, May 11. His goals are to make 550-600 in the dead-lift and 305 in the squat.
And with this event Mr. Burch received another honor, being inducted into the American Powerlifting Association Hall of Fame, a list that includes some of the best lifters since its first inductee, the power-lifting titan Mike Lambert, in 1987.
Mr. Burch has been lifting weights since 1956. His first competition was in 1966. “I lifted against the best back in the 60s and 70s and I owe those guys a lot— Larry Pacifico, Vincent Anello, Jim Cash, Mike MacDonald,” he told The Columbia Paper.