Australian Update
By Al Myers
There has been alot of new activity from the All Rounds in Australia. For those USAWA lifters who are not familiar with the Australian branch of IAWA weightlifters, today I want to give a little update on the latest activity from Australia. Australia has been one of the affiliated organizations of the International All Round Weightlifting Association since the beginning.
But recently there have been some BIG CHANGES! First of all, the Western Australians in Perth have relocated to a new facility. They had been centered out of the Belmont Sports and Recreation Club for many years, and have hosted many International events there. They have now moved to the Lambda Academy in Mundaring, ran by Kat Becker. I am looking forward to seeing this new facility.
Also – now this is really big news – the All Rounds in Australia is growing with the addition of a new club in Ballina, NSW. This expansion of All Round lifting from just one club will be leading to a new name for the Australian All Rounds – the ARWFA (All Round Weightlifting Federation of Australia). This will be implemented soon.
2019 will be a big year for the Australians as they will be hosting the 2019 IAWA Gold Cup. It will be held on Sunday November 3rd, promoted by Peter Phillips. The day before will be the Australian Championships which will make a very big and exciting weekend! If you have not been to an IAWA event in Australia please think about attending and representing the USAWA. I promise you that you will not be disappointed. The entry form and announcement will be available soon.
There is some sad news to report from Western Australia which I just seen recently on Facebook. Frank Lamp has passed away. Frank was a pioneer in getting the All Rounds established in Australia. John Mahon summed up it pretty well when he said:
We have received the sad news that Frank Lamp has passed away. Frank has had a significant role in strength sports in WA with most noting his contributions to powerlifting and Weightlifting. For ARWLWA we would not even exist if it was not for Frank Lamp. His contribution to ARWLWA has been unmatched and we will be forever grateful for what he has done for this sport. We pass on our deepest condolences to Franks family and may All-Round Weightlifting in Australia live on in Frank’s memory.
Recently the Australians published a newsletter which highlighted all of the activity from their organization – The All-Round Strenght Athlete Issue 1 (1)
The second annual IAWA OTSM World Championships Postal will be held again this year in July. Australian John Mahon and I are working on getting the details set for it at this moment, so expect it to be announced soon.