A weightlifting family from Widnes has set new records at championship competitions.

Father and daughter duo Dave and Kayleigh Morris recently competed at the British Powerlifting Union and the Amateur British Powerlifting Union British finals at Bodypower, Birmingham and the WPC European Finals in Limerick, Ireland.

The duo has been training together and competed in competitions series earlier in this year.

At the British finals, the family is going from strength to strength with 18-year-old Kayleigh competing in the T3 division under the 90 kg class. She broke her own record in the UK of 105kg with lifts of 107.5k and 122.5kg and also won the gold medal.

Kayleigh went on to the European Championships 5 weeks later when she won the title, as well as setting new UK, European, and World’s record with a deadlift of 115kg.

48-year-old Dave Morris is widely-known as The Gorilla in powerlifting. Dave is a 26 stone power-lifter who won both titles in the Masters two super heavyweight division in both raw bench and raw deadlift with a press of 222.5kg. He also gained a new BPU UK deadlift record 312.5kg.

In the present, Dave holds not only both UK records in raw bench and raw deadlift but also a WPC European record in deadlift as well as WPC and IPL World records in the deadlift. He is currently ranked the world’s number two dead-lifter for his division.

Then he went on to the European Championships in Limerick, Ireland, winning both the raw bench press title with a press of 225kg and a new Europe and World’s WPC record deadlift of 312.5kg. He received 2 best lifter awards for his great performances.

Sister of Kayleigh and daughter of Dave, Nat Morris, 21, is also a big part of the success of the family. She went to the European Championships, helping to keep stress levels to a minimum and making sure that everything was taken care of at weigh-ins.

In addition, she will compete within the bodybuilding of women and also power lift in her bodybuilding offseason.

All three members are now fully sponsored athletes at Dedicated Fitness XL Gym in Huyton.