It has been a year of change for national teenage weightlifting champion Noah Gear.
She moved from Blenheim to attend Garin College and linked up with the Nelson Weightlifting Club at its Vanguard Street base.
“It was an easy shift as I had competed here heaps of times and it is a good environment,” says the Year 10 student, who trains there five times a week after school.
She also fits in volleyball training once a week where her explosive power suits her role as a “middle” player.
Her gruelling schedule paid off when the 2025 New Zealand Secondary School weightlifting champion triumphed again in this year’s edition in Auckland.
More than 100 lifters from 37 schools competed, with Noah the Garin College team of one.
With changes in the weight classes, she dropped from the 86kg grade to the 77+ and she cleaned up in the U15 division.
Noah claimed a new personal best of 70kgs in the snatch and backed that up with a 90kg clean and jerk to claim gold.
“I prefer the clean and jerk in training but the snatch in competition,” declares the young lifter.
She is coached online by Auckland-based Cam McTaggart, who won silver at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow this year.
“I record my lifts in training and then send them to Cam. He looks at them and then tells me what I need to do to improve them,” explains Noah.
Also involved in the process is Nelson’s Lester Keene, who describes himself as an overseeing coach on the ground.
He has mentored another young weightlifter, Tia Nacagilevu, who finished fourth at her first commonwealth games, and can see similar determination in his new charge.
“There was no point in Noah being here on her own. It is hard to coach from afar because you can’t see what they are doing and make corrections,” maintains Lester.
“He provides a few tips,” adds Noah.
The transition was helped by Noah having met Tia.
“She was a big inspiration and someone I really look up to.”
Noah was raised in Blenheim where her parents operate the PR Shed gym.
Her mother Maria used to be a weightlifter before moving to cross fit.
“I watched training there when I was little and got into lifting when I was 11,” confirms Noah, who boards at the Garin College hostel in Richmond.
She headed home to Blenheim for the school holidays but will be back into training on her return to Nelson.
Her major goal, over the next couple of years, is to meet the 225kg combined total which will make her eligible for international competition.
Noah’s arrival at the busy Nelson club has added to the burgeoning female representation.
“The female side of the sport is huge here now and outnumbers the males,” quips Lester.
