ATHENS -- It was a mixed bag for the Georgia IronDawgs, headquartered in Gainesville, at the American Powerlifting Committee’s America’s Cup Powerlifitng Championships in Athens on Saturday.
The Dawgs' bench-only team wound up taking the first place trophy in that division, but the full-power team had some problems and finished second to the Pure Raw Power (PRP) squad, led by 41-year old John Rowland who for the squat, benchpress and deadlift, totaled 735 kilograms/1,620.38 pounds in the 90 kilo (198. 41 lbs.) 40-44 year old Raw or unequipped class and took the Master’s Mens’ Best Lifter Award.
“Great job by our Benchpress team in winning the championship,” said IronDawgs head coach/head trainer Mike Kidd. “We didn’t have our usual full power team or bench press teams here. A lot of them are prepping for the GPA Raw World Championships in Argentina and we did have one lifter who bombed (didn’t get a valid lift) in the bench in the Fullpower division and that DQ’d him from the meet. That’s not to take anything away from PRP. Those boys train hard. I enjoy watching John Rowland and ‘em lift.”
The IronDawgs also had a couple of Best Lifters of their own. In his first powerlifting meet ever, West Hall alumnus Logan Herford of Oakwood, a bodybuilder and former wrestler, blew away the existing World Records in the 18-19 year old 82.5 kg./ 181.88 lbs.) Raw Class and established new marks in the squat (255 kg./562.17 lbs.); bench (172.5 kg./380.29 lbs. on a 4th lift); deadlift (250 kg./551.15 lbs.) and total (677.5 kg./1,493.62 lbs.) Herford got the Teens/Junior BL Award for young men. Mt. Airy’s Joey Murphy took the first place medal in the Master’s Men’s 40-44 year-old 125 kilo/275.58 lb. Equipped class with his lift of 292.5 kg./644.85 lbs. for the day’s heaviest benchpress and the Men’s Best Lifter Award in the bench-only division.
For Herford, setting those records was the most fun part of his day.
“I liked the atmosphere,” Herford added. “How people get behind you, even though you’re competing against them-everyone rooting for each other. I was very happy with how I did because I did better than I expected.”
“Logan Herford was awesome,” Kidd noted.
Herford actually picked up two medals as he also entered the Bench-only class and won that. The ‘Dawgs Bench team also had another rookie: Duane Manning of Oakwood, who took the title in the MM 40-44 year old 90 kilo Raw class with his press of 130 kilograms (286.6 lbs.) He pushed over 314 lbs., but had his rear came off the bench and his 3rd lift was no good. Later he confessed to a case of nerves.
“I was shaking,” Manning said. “Toward the end, I calmed down a bit.” Manning was sick the week before the meet, and his weight was down, so he was not as pleased as he could have been with the way things went.
“It’s gonna get better,” he vowed as he noted he just enjoys the fun of the competition. “Watching all these other guys lifting so much weight, it’s amazing.”
Brenau strength coach Gary Hatfield of Gainesville set the new American and World records with his total of 835 kg./1,840.84 lbs. (S-350 kg./771.61 lbs.; B-235 kg./518.08 lbs.; D-250 kg./551.15 lbs.) in the Equipped MM 50-54, 110 kg./242.51 lbs. class. This was the inaugural meet in the International Powerlifting Organization (IPO) for equipped lifters, so all firsts in the Equipped classes established new World marks. Hatfield now owns world records in three different weight classes: 90, 100, and 110 kilograms.
Also setting new American and World records was the dean of the IronDawg lifters, 58-year old R. Garry Glenn of Oakwood. After weighing in at a little over 197 pounds on Friday, Glenn beat his own American mark and established the IPO World record with a bench of 183.5 kg./404.54 lbs. in the Equipped MM 55-59 year old 90 kilo class.
“I missed it (183.5) on my second lift,” Glenn, the captain of the Benchpress team noted, “so getting it on the 3rd was a true ‘Thank you, Jesus’ moment. That’s a meet PR (personal record) for me in this weight class. I’m very proud of our people who showed up and put it on the line today. I’m happy for Logan and Duane as first-timers and we’re very happy with another Bench-team win. The Full-power folks were a bit down today; but they’ll be back.”
Also contributing to that bench win was George Bradley of Gainesville with a lift of 102.5 kg /225.97 lbs. in the MM 55-59 67.5 kg./148.81 lbs. Equipped division.
Also lifting and winning on the IronDawgs Fullpower team in the meet were Andy Williamson of Winterville in the Raw MM 45-49 110 kilo class (S-190 kg./418.87 lbs.;B-147.5 kg./325.18 lbs.; D-210 kg./462.97 lbs; T-547.5 kg./1,207.02 lbs.); and Uwe Thormann of Palm Harbor, Florida in the MM 55-59-year old Raw 110 kilo class, establishing new world records for his class in the squat (180 kg./396.83 lbs.); bench press (130 kg./286.6 lbs.); deadlift (220 kg./485.01 lbs.); and total (530 kg./1,1168.44 lbs.) Pinelake, Georgia’s Greg Zarus picked up a win in benchpress and push/pull (bench and deadlift). Zarus benched 110 kg./242.51 lbs. and deadlifted 160kg./352.74 lbs. for a total of 270 kilos/595.24 pounds.
The meet also had an international flavor, attracting lifters from Germany, Pridnestrovie and Russia as well as from the USA. The Global Powerlifitng Association (GPA) Raw Championships will be in Villa Maria-Cordoba, Argentina November 30-December 2nd this year.
