2025 USAWA NATIONALS (Albany, KY)

NOTE CHANGE IN LOCATION – DALE HOLLOW IS UNABLE TO HOST US AS PLANNED. THE COMPETITION VENUE AND HOTEL HAVE BOTH BEEN CHANGED. (Updated 4/4/2025)

SATURDAY, JULY 19, 2025

LOCATION: BUFFVILLE COLOSSEUM

2608 North Highway 127 Business

Albany, KY 42602

WEIGH-INS:  SATURDAY, JULY 19TH @ 8 AM – 9:30 AM ,

NATIONALS LIFTING: 10:00 AM (CENTRAL STANDARD TIME)

THE LIFTS: 

  • HACKENSCHMIDT FLOOR PRESS
  • DINNIE LIFT
  • SAXON DEADLIFT
  • DUMBBELLL TO SHOULDER 

ENTRY DEADLINE – JULY 1, 2025 – Late entries will not be accepted. (NOTE CHANGE IN DEADLINE, NOW 7/1 NOT 7/5)

ENTRY FEE:  60 dollars and you must register online at the link provided: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/usawa-nationals-2025-tickets-946795770637

CONTACT INFORMATION:clintpoore@hotmail.com or by phone at 606-688-2600.

USAWA MEMBERSHIP REQUIRED: Memberships are required for all participants prior to the meet. Please go to USAWA.COM to purchase your memberships prior to the meet. 

AWARDS: Best Lifter Awards to the overall male & female champion, Masters Best Lifter for male & female & medals for all lifters. Each lifter will receive a USAWA NATIONALS t-shirt. You must give your t-shirt size on the online entry form

SCHEDULE:

FRIDAY – SKD (SOUTHERN KENTUCKY DISTILLERY) tour & Kentucky Bourbon tasting at 2 pm

FRIDAY – USAWA National Meeting at 5 pm at South Kentucky Distillery. 

SATURDAY – 2025 USAWA NATIONALS at Buffville Colosseum

HOTEL – BAYMONT INN  phone #(606) 387-7238. You must call the Baymont Inn to receive the group rate. You will not receive the group rate if you book online by a third party.

Group code is USAWA

The Baymont Inn has a block of 20 rooms for the USAWA for 139 dollars plus tax per night, more rooms can be added if necessary.

You must call to the Baymont Inn to make a reservation with the group code. This is peak season for Lake Cumberland and Dale Hollow Lake and the rooms will be held until June 8th. After June 8, the group code will no longer be available. Due to being the peak season for travelers, each reservation must be for two nights, Friday & Saturday night. This is a destination location for travelers and you must book before the deadline of June 8th. If you wait to the last minute you may not get a room.

LOCAL TOUR: We are scheduling a Bourbon tasting tour at SKD (Southern Kentucky Distillery) on Friday. If you are interested in going on a tour of the local Bourbon Distillery and doing some Kentucky Bourbon tasting, please let me know. 

2024 National Championship Meet Results

The 2024 USAWA National Championship was held in Columbia, Missouri last week. Bill Clark, who hosted the meet, writes:

THE CHAMPIONS REIGN –  BETH AND ABE RETAIN TITLES

There was little doubt after the initial event that Beth Skwarecki and Abe Smith would retain their national titles – and so it was – with 18 lifters on hand – the same as the meet drew in 2023.

Clark’s Gym, the meet sponsor for the second year in a row and the fifth time dating back to 1995, 1997 and 2001, won the team title by sweeping the first six places on the men’s side and two of the top four women.

Randy Smith, who came from Upper Michigan, was the men’s runner-up, followed by a pair of newcomers to the Nationals – Philip Marlin in third and Jeff Wenzel in fourth.

Lisa Gore, a gym member for less than two months, took third behind Beth and Stacy Todd. Allison Lupo was a close fourth.

The four Todd kids – two girls and two boys from the homes of Eric and Chris Todd – put on a great demonstration of both skill and strength and showed the flexibility and feel for the game that predicted a bright future – maybe in the Olympic Lift game as well as the odd lifts.

One of the negatives of the championship weekend was the failure of Kevin Fulton to free himself from weather-related farm problems to make it to the meet that was to honor him as a founding leader in the USAWA – the guy for whom the Fulton Bar was named.

Two of the old-timers who have been around for more than three decades were on hand. John Carter finished sixth overall and Denny Habecker, from Lebanon, Pa., was in seventh place. Habecker was the oldest lifter in the meet at 81. He brought along a guest – Steve Gardner, the long-time leader of the IAWA-UK – the British version of the USAWA.

Results are in the attached document.

USAWA-Nationals-2024-resultsDownload

Old Time Strongman Championship

By Eric Todd

Mike Lucht in the Apollon’s Lift

We at KCSTRONGMAN and the House of Iron and Stone will be hosting the thirteenth installment of the Old Time Strongman Championship. The address is Turney, Missouri, but the exact location is God’s Country USA. As usual it will be in early September. We have no running water, but do have an outhouse. We will try to knock down all the spider webs for you. We have no air-conditioning, but it the weather has typically been tolerable for this meet.

The meet does have a strong history. It started back in 2011, when Thom VanVleck held it at his house near Kirksville, MO. The next year it was held in the gym of an old school, and has been at my location ever since. There has been a bit of parity in the men’s division. Chad Ullom has been the most prolific with three titles under his belt. Greg Cook and myself follow with two titles apiece, with five other lifters having won a championship apiece. The women’s division has had only four ladies claim the championship. Phoebe Todd has won the past four times. Prior to that Heather Tully/Gardner won three, with two other female lifters winning a title apiece.

We have typically had a decent turnout for this meet; hopefully this year does the same. The following are the details:

Meet Director: Eric Todd

Location: 10978 SW Pueblo, Turney, MO 64493

Weigh Ins: 9:30

Rules: 10:15

Lifting starts: 10:30

Lifts: Apollon’s Lift, Habecker Lift, Saxon Snatch, Kennedy Lift

Awards: We will have awards for the lifters

Entry form follows:

OTSM-Entry-2024Download
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