Tracy Chipping is the Head of Commerce at King’s as well as a National Champion Powerlifter.

Ms Chipping teaches Economics and Accounting and in her spare time is breaking national, and unofficially, world records as a Powerlifter. At the age of 60, Ms Chipping is strong, with a healthy competitive spirit.

At the weekend Ms Chipping achieved five unofficial National records in the M3-84kg group. The speciality lifts are the back squat, bench press and deadlift. In that competition, she completed personal bests and unofficial national records of 131.5kgs in the back squat, 72.5kgs in the bench press, and 156.5kgs in the deadlift. The official IPF World Record is 156kgs.

Ms Chipping has a deadlift lifting style described as a ‘Grip and Rip approach’. She is an incredibly focused and disciplined athlete with clear goals, which is to set 'personal bests' (PBs) and officially break world records! In 2021 Ms Chipping ranked 2nd in the world in the Open Powerlifting Rankings for M3-84kgs.

Ms Chipping has a strong chance of achieving her goals at the NZPF Nationals to be held in Auckland later in 2022. 

She will also be heading to Canada from the 9th-15th of October 2022 to compete in the World Classic and Equipped Masters P/L Championships 2022. This has been a goal for the past two years but has not been possible due to COVID. After October she is aiming to compete in the Commonwealth Powerlifting & Bench Press Championships from 28th Nov-4th Dec 2022 in Auckland. What sets her apart is that she is exceptionally good at two key lifts, deadlift and back squat. Watch this space!

Ms Chipping’s trainer is James Schroder from Atlas Powerlifting in Christchurch who has been the National Coach. He is confident in her ability and goals.

She admits that the biggest challenge is a mental one. Sports psychology has been incredibly helpful in building mental strength and self-belief.

Ms Chipping only started Powerlifting in 2018 after starting back at Les Mills in 2017. She wanted to ‘give it a go’, and have a goal, “something to aim for”. She trains four times a week for at least two hours sometimes more. There is no ‘off’ button. Ms Chipping admits she takes a week off after each competition but other than that she trains all year round.

Outside of training and school, she has a passion for Ancestry. Continuing to research her own family history and often other peoples.

Ms Chipping is an inspiration to us all. Kia kaha e hoa.