Back Row - Paul, Trevor, Steve Gardner, ?, Tom, Matt, Brandon, Graham, Matt, Anthony, Aaron
Middle Row - ?, Tom, Steve Sherwood, Chloe, Denny, James Joyce, Mark Haydock, Pandora
Front Row - Chris Bass, Sylvia, Lara, Natalie, Sanjiv, Gary, Paul, Beatra, Josh, David, Ben Goodman, Steve Sherwood
120 kg Hack Lift
Zercher
Pullover & Push
Cheat Curl
Dumbbell Clean & Jerk
Continental to Belt
Clean & Push Press
Awards Night
This started out as a bit of a lark. I had just got back from USAWA nationals where I had met Steve Gardner and the next clincher was flights from Denver to London-Gatwick were not terribly expensive. Everything kind of fell in place from there.
Thursday, October 3rd - Left for the airport early, parked at 40th & Airport Park-n-Ride and took the light rail into DIA. Went through security, hung out at Delta Lounge, boarded planed for (3.5) hour flight to JFK. Hung out at the Delta Lounge in JFK and then boarded flight for (6.5) hour flight to Gatwick.
Friday, October 4th - I arrived, cleared border control quickly and bought a National Railway Ticket on the Southern Line to Hampden Park Station in Eastbourne. I arrived in Eastbourne around 12:30 PM local time and walked 1.1 miles to the Premier Inn. Snacked on fish & chips at The Mill waiting for my room to be made available at the Premier Inn at 3PM. After checking in and getting settled, I went over to The Turing School to help set up the venue. I was there from 6 to 7ish and the work was done quickly. Setting up 2 competition platforms, 1 warm-up platform and bringing in the weights and barbell. Afterwards, I met everybody at The Mill to chit chat. Pub culture is alive and well and I was made to feel welcome.
Saturday, October 5th - I walked to the venue at 8:30 AM, got weighed in at 91.3kg and met my fellow lifters. The rules briefing was at 9:45 and we were underway right at 10:00 PM. I officiated during the morning session and lifted in the afternoon.
- Clean & Push Press - 60kg, 62.5kg, 65kg - This felt really good and was just a smidge under my PR of 65.5kg.
- Continental Clean to Belt - 90kg, 95kg, 102.5kg - This felt good as well and I left some weight on the platform. It is still a PR to my previous best of 93kg. Several athletes used a Zercher technique which is something I want to work on.
- 1H DB Clean & Jerk - 27.5kg, 30kg,
35kg- I got a little greedy here after leaving something on the platform on the last lift. Just a smidge off of PR of 31.5kg. - Cheat Curl - 40kg, 45kg, 47.5kg - This is always rough due to my right arm mobility, but I still managed a PR.
After lifting, I got a ride over to Metamorfit for the 2024 World Council Meeting.
- New Lift - Duck Walk approved
- Disability Lifts approved
- OTSM Lifts approved
- Fixtures approved - Worlds = Belfast, Lebanon, Perth; Gold Cup = Boston, Darby
- Paul Barette elected IAWA President; Graham Sexton elected UK International VP, Sanjiv Gupta elected American International VP; all other leadership chose to carry on in their positions
Then it was back to The Mill. I had a chicken burger for dinner and it was pretty good.
Sunday, October 6th - Day 2 of lifting was much like the same in terms of arrival and logistics.
- Pullover & Push - 45kg, 47.5kg, 52.5kg - This was a PR of about 0.5kg. There is certainly some technique to a push with good hip drive and a quick pullover to reduce elbow strain.
- 1H Zercher (Left) - 60kg, 65kg,
70kg- This was a massive PR and this movement felt great today. Pinning the bar to the body with slight lean back does the trick as long as the balance is right. - Hack Lift - 100kg, 110kg, 120kg - This was another massive PR and I probably could have got 125 or 135kg. Very proud of this accomplishment.
After lifting we disassembled the platforms and packed the vans. Then we took team photographs. I did not help unload at Metamorfit. I got a ride to dinner with Steve Andrews to the Sovereign Harbour Yacht Club. The venue was wonderful and started with drinks, dinner service at 7:00 PM and then speeches and awards.
Monday, October 7th - I opted to get a cab to the Hampden Park rail station, got the train to Gatwick, hung out at the Premier Plaza Lounge and then boarded my (7.5) hour flight to JFK. I cleared border control in JFK. The layover at JFK was tough, but the Centurion Lounge was nice. I boarded my (4) hour flight to Denver, picked up luggage, light rail to car to home near midnight.
All in all the lifting is what it was, but the atmosphere of international competition as a first timer was electric. Hearing the encouragement of "Go on!" and the pronunciation of more familiar encouragement was super fun. The venue and dinner were held at really nice places. The reasonable 40 GBP (~53 USD) included a shirt and trophy. They had volunteers to take pictures and set up refreshments.
The conversations at the pub were the most fun for me.
Flights - $700
Competition - $53
Dinner - $50
Lodging - $335
Rail - $53
Dining, Taxi, Misc - $58
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Total - $1,250 (vs $600 for Nationals at Columbia; similar price driving or flying)
- Lara Bennett - Junior UK lifter (MetamorFit)
- Sylvia Stockall - Canadian masters
- Beata Banas - UK Masters, 40+ (MetamorFit)
- Chloe Brennan - UK Open, Europe's Strongest Woman amongst other accollades (Powerhouse Gym)
- Pandora Holladay - UK Open, quieter, but great athlete (Powerhouse Gym)
- Natalie Voce - UK Master, really nice and one of the only women referees
- Danny Kingsland - UK Open, nice kid, did not talk to him much
- Steve Andrews - UK Masters, nice guy, him and his wife Vivian drove me everywhere
- Steve Sherwood - UK Masters, interesting guy, raced cars, chatted with him and his wife a bit
- Ben Goodman - UK open, did not talk to him much
- Steve Shah - UK Masters, nice guy originally from Pakistan
- Paul Barette - Host, great guy, passionate about lifting, partner Adrian runs a Karate Club
- Brandon Hy Hyland, UK Open (MetamorFit)
- Denny Habecker - USA
- Thomas Meakin - UK Masters, did not talk to him much (MetamorFit)
- David Angrove - UK open, nice guy, we were twinsies in our singlets, his girlfriend(s) took video for me
- Sam Bonar - UK open, did not talk to him much
- James Joyce - UK open, really strong, covered in tattoos
- Aaron Hayhoe - UK open, big numbers
- Sanjiv Gupta
- Josh Davidson - UK open, another strong athlete (Powerhouse Gym)
- Gary Ell - UK masters, recently had neck surgery with plates in his neck
- Paul Hallam - UK masters, fun guy, hung out at the pub both nights, background in Badminton (Powerhouse Gym)
- Trevor Egglestone - UK masters, (MetamorFit)
- Matt Ashdown - UK open 105kg
- Mark Haydock - UK masters, following on instagram, two kids one plays cricket/hockey and the other plays chess (Powerhouse Gym)
- Graham Saxton - UK masters, worked at Rolls-Royce, nice guy, new IAWA VP for the UK (Powerhouse Gym)
- Anthony Chittock - UK master, 125+ kg, new to all-round but very strong
- Matt Jones - UK open, 125+ kg, set a lot of records, Chloe's boyfriend (Powerhouse Gym)
I packed appropriately and am glad I brought my belt, wrist wraps, towel and clip board. I did not use my mouth guard. It was good to have Clif bars and Larabars. I also grabbed bananas, crisps and water from the refreshments stand. Travel arrangements were great. I did not need the headphones or rain jacket. I liked having a backpack and travel backpack, but consolidating would have been even better. I liked having a first aid kit and am glad that I did not need it. Jeans and a button down were appropriate for the awards dinner.
I also was the side judge for 6 of the 7 lifts and center judge for the 1H Zercher. The center judge is unique in giving commands and waiting for the bar to steady seemed like an eternity.
I watched lots of movies in flight including Joker, Inside Out 2, The Challenger, Civil War, Furiosa,
Great stories were shared about Rex Monohan, Art Montini, George Dick, Howard Prechtel, Adrian Blindt, and Chloe Brennan. The first worlds was 3 days with 10 lifts on day 1, 10 lifts on day 2 and then a records session. The USA contingency chartered a plane for 50ish people to attend (25 athletes and families). One Arm Championship is a standard fixture on the UK calendar. 250KG deadlift challenge. Separate from BAWLA mostly to establish drug free sport. GAISF was a fledgling committee that was used to separate contesting lifts in multiple federations.
UK fixtures are interesting with roughly one event per month
January - British Grip Championship / British Olympics
March - British Powerlifting / Southern Shield
May - Midlands Championship / Single Arm Championship
July - British Championship
August - World Postal Championship / British Disability Championship / Welsh Open Championship
October - IAWA World
November - IAWA Gold Cup
December - OTSM
USAWA Meets
January - Zercher Strength Classic - Clark's
February - Grip Championship - Dino Gym
April - Bench Press Heptathlon - Clarks / New England Grip Classic - Franks
May - Heavy Lift Championship - Franks
June - Hackendinnie - Buffville / National Championship
August - Heavy Lift Classic - Franks / Presidential Cup - Habeckers
September - OTSM - KC Strongman
November - Goerner DL 12 + 1 Clarks / Steve Schmidt Backbreaker
December - Lift for Leroy / Memorial Record Day
Then record breakers and one off events
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