USAWA

I am starting to get excited about the 2025 National Championship in Albany, Kentucky. 

With (30) registered athletes, this will be one of the larger fields for nationals.  The past 10 years have had an average of 14 lifters.  You must go back to 2002 at Ambridge, PA for the last field over 25 athletes and the record seems to be 37 athletes who descended on Cleveland, OH in 1994.  As of this writing, 8 of 10 USAWA clubs will be represented.  The 30 athletes have combined for over 250 years on the platform and set over 3000 records.

With (4) lifts, this will be the fewest lifts ever used to decide a National Champion.  (10) lifts had been typical in the early years and the last 10 years have seen an average of (6) lifts.  This will also be a one-day meet.  The last 10 years have seen (7) one-day meets and (3) two-day meets.  With all the fun activities around Kentucky, I am sure folks will find plenty of things to do with a day off on Sunday.

Interestingly, all the lifts will be from the Strongman Category.  Typically, we have seen a broad mix of cleans, presses, snatches, jerks, deadlifts, squats, curls, pullovers, dumbbell lifts and even the occasional Fulton bar lift, Heavy Lift or Special equipment lift.  All (4) lifts are IAWA lifts as well so there is an opportunity to set age group, National and world records.  Remember to set a National record you must not only perform at Nationals, but your lift has to be an all age class record for your weight class.

Hackenschmidt Floor Press, Dinnie Lift, Saxon Deadlift and Dumbbell to Shoulder are all being contested for the first time at a National Championship.  With the large field, these should all go quick and should be easy to judge.  They are all taken from the floor and do not require rack height adjustments, chain length adjustments, checking a bar for balance, etc.  For those all-rounders who have struggled with overhead movements, this meet is for you.  With the Saxon Deadlift being very implement dependent it will be interesting to see how the warmup area is set up and how many competition platforms will be used.

Judging will not be an issue as there will be (12) Level 2 and (4) Level 1 officials in attendance.

The large field also bodes well for the annual meeting.  USAWA has seen solid steady participation numbers and that has brought some contention regarding drug testing, supportive equipment, uniforms, USAWA officers, association with IAWA, new lifts, rule changes and by-law changes.  Most can be accommodated with a simple majority, but by-law changes will require a 2/3 majority vote.

We have also been fortunate to see a large influx of provisional Canadian members the past two years.  Aside from brief bubbles of participation from New Zealand and Spain; Canada offers the best opportunity to grow All-Round weightlifting worldwide or at least give North America a larger voice.

There will be (6) athletes competing for the women’s title.  (4) masters athletes and (2) juniors.  Beth Skwarecki is the favorite having won the past four years.  The women’s junior championship is up for grabs as recent past champions Lilly Todd, Phoebe Todd and Daphne Lansdown will not be in attendance.

There will be (24) athletes competing for the men’s title.  2024 Champion, Abe Smith, will not be in attendance, but runner up Randy Smith will be there.  Dave DeForest has been a top five finisher the past few years as well.  Larry Traub was the 2012 runner up and appears to be in good form.  Chad Ullom was the 2014 champion, and these lifts should suit him well. 

Isaac Bankens appears to have a lock on the men’s Junior division.  The Senior division will be a battle between Brian Guffey, Kyle Frappier and Chris Henderson.

Safe travels to the athletes and supporters who will be making their way to Albany, KY.

The Stark Center has been on my list of attractions for quite some time. The family was teasing me as it was my Disneyland. I was recognizing pictures, people and pointing things out wherever I could.

It is housed at the University of Texas at Austin in the football stadium. Entering the stadium and taking an elevator to the 5th floor, visitors are greeted by the Warren Lincoln Travis dumbbell and a large main room with a stein display and large paintings. To the right is the library and research archives. To the right are the exhibits.

As I cannot do justice or organize my thoughts, I will just do a photo dump with my pictures and why they jumped out to me.

I did talk to Patty at the research center, and she is familiar with the USAWA and has several of Bill’s Strength Journals as Terry Todd was a subscriber.

Warren Lincoln Travis’ Dumbbell

Warren Lincoln Travis’ exhibition barbell from Coney Island

Bob Peoples’ stone loaded wooden barbell. The height seems similar to a standard barbell.

Sig Klein’s 160 pound stage barbell. The stage and splendor of strongman and odd lifting should not be forgotten.

Barbell made by Terry Todd and used by Mark Henry to train for 2002 Arnold Strongman Classic. It was neat to see equipment made from what could be found in the oil field.

George Jowett’s Anvil. Anvils have never been part of USAWA. It would be a challenging opportunity as the shape of every anvil is unique.

Basque Lifting Stone. I need to do some homework on this.

Jan and Terry Todd with some of his collection. Love the Iron Man plates.

Terry Todd earning his PhD in 1966. His interest led him to a doctorate degree.

Ironhistory Forum founder Joe Roark. I am subscriber and love the content.

Louis Cyr and his dumbbell.

Doug Hepburn holding a 45 pound plate at arm’s length by his little finger

1950’s picture of Marvin Eder with some grippers

Tommy Kono and Pete George with a 375 pound Team Clean & Jerk

Tommy Kono entertaining the crowd

1991 National Powerlifting meet. I am a Purdue grad and love seeing the support for women’s competition.

Her story chalkboard with Diya’s current claim to fame

Katie Sandwina

Richard Sorin’s 1991 close of the #3 Gripper

Cool statue in the library

Stein Collection

Frank Zane in a vacuum, Lou Ferrigno in a front double bicep and myself in overhead hands out double biceps. These paintings were just cool.