TWO Ellesmere Port weightlifting coaches with a combined age of 92 have qualified for the British Championships.

Robert Carpenter, 40, won his class in the regional qualifier while Mike Ashcroft, at 52 the reigning British Champion, was runner up in his.

The pair are assistant weightlifting coaches at the Oasis Youth Club on Coronation Road.

Usually they spend their time passing their considerable experience in the sport to young weightlifters at the club but this time they entered as veterans in the Northern Masters Weightlifting Championships.

The pair travelled to Mytholmroyd, Yorkshire, to compete in the competition, Carpenter entering the 100kg bodyweight class and Ashcroft the 104kg class.

Lifts were made up of two elements, the snatch, where competitors throw the weight straight up above their head and clean and jerk, where the lifter catches the bar on his chest before raising it above his head.

Carpenter won the Northern title in his class with a snatch of 85kg and clean and jerk of 110kg to total 195kg.

Ashcroft snatched 78kg and clean and jerked 101kg but his 179kg total lift was only good enough for second.

Both lifters qualified to compete in the British Championships however, which will be held at the National Sports Centre at Lilleshall on March 28.

Ashcroft will be hoping to retain the British title which he won last year.

Oasis squad coach Gwilym Parry has also qualified for the championships and will be competing in the 75-80 age group.

It isn’t just the old guard who are flying the flag for the Oasis weightlifting squad as three youngsters from the club will be competing in the British Schools Championships in Birmingham on Saturday, March 13.

Paris-Marie Wright, Niamh O’Neill and Matty Carr will be gunning for glory in a week-and-a-half.

The Oasis Youth Club has also been chosen to host the 2010 North of England Schools Weightlifting Championships on Sunday, December 12.