POWERLIFTING mum Beverley Rodgers has been selected to represent Great Britain at the Commonwealth Powerlifting Championships.

The 43-year-old from Kempshott only took up the sport in 2011, when she was made redundant and wanted a new way to keep fit.

She made an immediate impact on the sport, being selected for the World Championships in her first year of competition.

Rodgers made her international bow in the under-63kg category at the World Championships which were held at Potchefstroom in South Africa.

There she picked up a bronze medal in the bench press with a lift of 72.5kg and finished fourth overall with a total of 307.5kg after squatting 102.5 kg and deadlifting 132.5 kg.

She earned her place at the Commonwealth Championships, which will take place in Vancouver in December, by winning the bench press at the All England Championship, with a lift of 80kg.

This was 5kg more than overall winner Khrys Kyriacou, who finished with a three-lift total of 340kg to Rodgers’ 332.5kg, with Rodgers squatting 112.5kg and deadlifting 140kg.

Rodgers’ final competition before Vancouver was the British Classic Championships at Bournemouth.

She was in great form, with a new competition personal best of 117.5kg in the squat, while she extended her Masters One British record with a lift of 82.5kg on her way to fifth place in the Open category.

She was second placed in the M1 lifters behind her nemesis, Khrys Kyriacou, who finished third in the Open category.

Rodgers, a management accountant with Arqiva in Winchester, will be travelling to Vancouver on her own as her 15-year-old son Kieran is in his GCSE year, but is excited for her first trip to the Canadian city.

Rodgers said: “I am really looking forward to going to Canada and I will be training hard for the competition until then. I hope I can bring back a medal again.”