A 52-year-old DJ has been crowned the champion of UK’s most prestigious DJ competition after having first entered the event back in 1987.
Miaer Lloyd was deemed the victor of the DMC UK Championships last Friday (August 18) 36 years after he first tried to take home the trophy. Lloyd, who goes by the DJ moniker Huw Wackman, is a Hip Hop Music teacher from Cwmbran, Torfaen, and emerged victorious despite having a broken finger and needing to borrow DJ equipment partway through the competition.
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“I’ve entered the Technics DMC UK championships lots of times, the first being at Martha’s Vineyard in Swansea back in 1987,” Lloyd told BBC News. “This was my sixth attempt — I’d come runner-up three times already and had all but given up.”
He told the outlet that he decided to give the DMC championships one more try after his mother Shirley passed away from Dementia. Next, the DJ known as Huw Wackman will now partake in the DMC World Championships in San Francisco, California this coming November.
“Me and Mum would always spend Fridays together when she was ill — it was our special day. I’d like to think she was up there watching over me on stage in some way,” he continued, shouting out the legendary competition that helped launch the careers of coveted DJs such as Fatboy Slim.
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Following the well-earned victory, DJ Huw Wackman took to his socials to celebrate the moment.
“Is this really happening,” he wrote on Instagram on Wednesday (August 24). “There are dreams, then there are DREAMS. Thanks for everyone who helped me get here. My Darling Mamma and Dad. X my lush sisters and all my dear friends.”
“It’s so surreal, I’m still buzzing about it,” the DJ told BBC News, adding that he used to go by DJ Excel back in the day. “Those were incredible times and so much has changed in the world of DJ-ing since then. My dad was a miner and bought me my first decks with his redundancy money back in the ’80s. I’d go round the clubs learning my craft, practicing as hard and as often as I could.”
He went on to say that he was going against the odds when he decided to dive back into the competition.
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“After I decided to enter again I only had three weeks to come up with a strong set, during which time I came down with the flu and broke my finger,” said Lloyd. “I wish I could say I broke it doing something cool, like DJ-ing really hard. But, in reality, I was cycling over the bridge in Newport with some shopping when the wind nearly blew me over my handlebars.”
He continued, “It goes to show what you can achieve if you just persevere and believe in yourself. Now I just can’t wait to get over to the US and show everyone over there how we do things here in Wales.”
Meanwhile, last year, DJ Perly made DMC history as the first woman turntablist to win two U.S. DMC Championships, earning the coveted title in 2017 and again in August, 2022.
“It’s an honor and I’m grateful for the opportunity to represent the U.S in the finals again,” Perly told HipHopDX at the time. “Prepping for any battle is tough, no lie. It’s all about hard work and determination. I always knew that deep down inside I had it in me to do, I just needed to dive deeper from within, meditate, connect with myself, work harder and focus.
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“As stressful as it was and is, I just had to keep pushing. The fire in my heart and soul never went out. It was always there, I just had to keep feeding it and let it burn bright to show me the way in my personal journey to greatness.”
