BASINGSTOKE Powerlifting Club maintained its claim to be the most successful sports organisation in the borough as its members landed four more titles at the World Championships in Ireland.

Pete Bedford achieved what no lifter has ever done before and landed a fifth successive World Open crown. He also won the over-40 gold medal in the club's best-ever showing.

The 41-year-old former Gazette Sports Personality of the Year won by a distance after a 177.5kg squat in the under-67.5kg unequipped bodyweight class, which broke his own world over-40 record.

He followed up with a 120kg benchpress and a 215kg deadlift for a winning 512.5kg total in Kinsale, County Cork.

Bedford improved on last year's winning total in Turin, which was 502.5kg, to follow the World Drug-Free Powerlifting Association titles he had won previously in Edinburgh, St Petersburg and Atlanta. His total could have been higher but for a dropped deadlift at the end.

He said he had benefited from a year free of injury and it had always been his aim to concentrate on the British and world championships. The victory, he added, had only reignited his quest for success and another title in Scotland next year.

"No one's ever won it five times in a row, so that's good," he said. "I want to go on for a sixth or a seventh - whatever I can - now."

Clubmate Andy Bonner, who has not been beaten in any senior or masters competition since the World Championships of 1991, won the under-90kg unequipped over-50 title.

His entry was doubtful until only days before after he injured his hip in a motorcycle accident four weeks prior to the contest.

He achieved a squat of 205kg, a benchpress of 160kg and a deadlift of 270kg for a total of 635kg.

Bonner, who has missed out because of injuries in recent years, captured his first world crown since 2002. His second and third benchpress lifts were both world masters records and his deadlift was also a world over-50 record.

The Basingstoke club founder, who decided to go only four days beforehand, said: "I couldn't even put my socks on for two weeks so I almost didn't go. But I knew I could still deadlift, so I thought I would give it a try. And the Irish were wonderful hosts."

The third Basingstoke lifter to become a world champion was George Carter. The British under-20 champion won the world under-110kg junior title for the first time.

He achieved a squat of 175kg, a benchpress of 115kg and a deadlift of 235kg, which was a world junior record. His winning total of 525kg was also a new world record.

A fourth Basingstoke club member, Rob Mackereth, also qualified to compete in the under-125kg equipped class and he finished the fifth senior. He achieved a squat of 240kg, a benchpress of 185kg and a deadlift of 212.5kg for a total of 637.5kg.

The Ireland team were the overall winners, with Great Britain second, and Bonner admitted: "You've got to do well to beat the host nation."

To add to the club's success, Paul Bedford, the brother of world champion Pete, recently went to Bendigo, in the Victorian gold-fields of Australia, for the world single-lift championship, where he won the under-67.5kg over-40 category with a lift of 155kg.