Author Archives: Al Myers

OTSM Championships

by Thom Van Vleck

Group picture from the 2012 USAWA Old Time Strongman Championships.

The 2nd Annual Old Time Strong Man Championships were held on October 14, 2012. We were back in the old Willard School Gym where the 2011 USAWA Nationals were held. This “old school” gym seemed to me to the appropriate place for an “Old Time” themed contest. I had 7 lifters show to test themselves. I had 5 loaders and three officials….so the help outnumbered the competition….which led to a fast meet! While this was down from 10 lifters from the year before there was a lot of enthusiasm and some great lifting.

Tim Piper came with his daughter Whitney. This was her first official meet. Vince Decker made it, as did Mike Lucht and Lance Foster. The battle came down between Dino Gym’s Chad Ullom and the JWC’s own John O’Brien. Chad took an early lead, cut after the Anderson Squat, John O’Brien hit a meet best 805lbs and was barely in First. That meant it all came down to the People’s Deadlift. Chad was ahead of John in the order so that meant he had to pull what he thought was his best and leave the rest to John. John came out needing a 600lb pull to win, but it was not to be. Chad Ullom was the winner! A nice comeback after his 2nd overall finish the week before at the IAWA World’s. Several records fell as well!

JWC member John O'Brien put up the top Anderson Squat of the meet with this 805 pound lift!

One of the things I wanted to do with this meet was make it a fundraiser for the Osteoblasters Weightlifting Club. This is a new club that I helped start up at A. T. Still University where I work as the Director of Counseling. The good news about this club is that I had hoped to have maybe a dozen members…..but instead I have over 60!!!! The bad news is we are sorely in need of equipment. So, the money was to buy equipment, or I offered a second option of donating equipment as your entry. Well, I raised $135.00….but we also had an 800lb Tire, a heavy duty pulling sled, and a very nice Incline bench! The Tire was from JWC member and USAWA competitor Joe Costello and the Incline was donated by Eric Todd who was also the head judge at the meet! Tim Piper also mentioned he would give us some dumbbells as well! Thanks, guys, this is appreciated greatly.

I finally want to thank Al Myers. Al traveled 700 miles round trip, was the scorekeeper, and helped me run the meet. This allowed me to go around and talk to the lifters, encourage them, and also to get to watch some of the lifting. I cannot tell you how often I have run a contest and I miss out on most of the competition because I’m too busy running things behind the scenes. I would also like to thank Chad Ullom, John O’Brien, and Lance Foster. Lance and Chad competed both in the OTSM and my Highland Games held the day before. John was a judge at the Highland Games and competed in the OTSM. Double Duty!!!!!!

The plans are already in motion for next year. Al and I have talked about this and we hope to have three or four OTSM meets that will lead up to the Championships here in Kirksville again in 2013. Next year I won’t have the meet on the same weekend as my Highland Games so it will be on a Saturday. It will stand alone and get the individual attention that it should. I hope everyone will consider coming!

MEET RESULTS

Old Time Strongman Championships
Willard Gymnasium
Kirksville, Missouri
October 14th, 2012

Meet Director:  Thom Van Vleck

Official (1-official system used): Eric Todd

Scorekeeper:  Al Myers

Lifts: Cyr Press, Apollons Lift, Anderson Squat, Peoples Deadlift

WOMENS DIVISION

LIFTER AGE BWT CYR AP SQ DL TOT PTS ADJ PTS
Whitney Piper 11 69.75 21 31 125 135 312 683.22 854.02

 EXTRA ATTEMPTS FOR RECORD

Whitney Piper: People Deadlift 160#

MENS DIVISION

LIFTER AGE BWT CYR AP SQ DL TOT PTS ADJ PTS
Chad Ullom 40 249 141 275 800 600 1816 1443.5 1457.9
John O’Brien 43 275 141 300 805 550 1796 1359.0 1413.4
Mike Lucht 29 222 141 270 560 600 1571 1325.9 1325.9
Vince Decker 41  175  116 220 470  535 1341 1294.8 1320.8
Tim Piper 42 191 101 205 500  450 1256 1151.6  1186.2
Lance Foster 46 318.5 81 175 475 550 1281 904.1 967.4

EXTRA ATTEMPTS FOR RECORD

Tim Piper: Anderson Squat 550#

NOTES: BWT is bodyweight recorded in pounds.  All lifts were recorded in pounds.  TOT is total pounds lifted.  PTS are adjusted Lynch Points for bodyweight corrected.  ADJ PTS are adjusted Lynch Points for age allowance.

Steve Gardner – IAWA Award of Merit

by Al Myers

IAWA President Al Myers (left) presenting IAWA Past President Steve Gardner (right) the IAWA Award of Merit.

One of the BIG AWARDS given over the course of the 2012 IAWA World Championships was the IAWA Award of Merit, awarded to Steve Gardner.  This is the second time this award has been given to someone in the IAWA.  The first Award of Merit went to Art Montini at the 2010 World Champs.  The Award of Merit is a Presidential Award, meaning that it is selected and presented on behalf of the IAWA President.  I made presenting this prestigious IAWA award to Steve my first “order of business” since assuming the IAWA Presidency, after Steve “stepped down” as the IAWA President after 12 years of service (3 terms) 2 days prior at the Annual World Council Meeting.

There is NO ONE more deserving of this award than Steve.  Steve has given SO MUCH of his time and energy to IAWA over the years.  It is also fitting that he be awarded this special award on the 25th World Meet anniversary.  I was honored to give his award speech.  For those interested in hearing it, and missed it the first time around, here it is:   https://www.usawa.com/the-iawa-president-steve-gardner/   .  Steve is the ONLY IAWA member who has attended every IAWA Championship over the 25 year history of the IAWA.  He has always been a participant in some manner – lifter, official, announcer, or scorekeeper!!  I have a story I would like to share about Steve and his attendance at the IAWA World Championships (this one I left out of my presentation speech).  In 1990 when the championships were held in Scotland, the World Championships conflicted on the same weekend with Steve’s Tug of War team who were defending their first National Title.  Steve drove through the night to be at (and help) with the meet on the second day.  He then attended the banquet after the meet with NO SLEEP the night before!! That’s commitment to IAWA and the membership!!

In closing, I would like to share a few words Steve had to say after receiving the IAWA Award of Merit:  “Al Myers took me by surprise when he presented me with the IAWA Award of Merit recognising my work with IAWA over the past 25 years. I thank Al and all of those involved very much. I have now ‘handed over the baton’ as IAWA International President to Al, after having first taken over from Howard Prechtel 12 years ago. I wish Al all the best and I am sure he will do a wonderful job for IAWA!”

IAWA has a rich history of leadership with past Presidents Howard Prechtel and Steve Gardner.  I promise that I will “do my best” to continue what these two great leaders have accomplished.

Howard Prechtel Memorial Trophy

by Al Myers

Howard Prechtel competing at the 2000 Gold Cup in Burton on Trent, England. Howard performed a 120 KG 2-Bar Deadlift for his Gold Cup Lift. Steve Gardner promoted this event, and it was held at the Bass Museum.

The Gold Cup is the next major IAWA meet on the Calendar of Events.  This year it will be held in Glasgow, Scotland on November 3rd.  As most know – the Gold Cup was started by the legendary Howard Prechtel while he was the President of the IAWA.  The first Gold Cup was held in Lakewood, Ohio in 1991. 

At the World Council Meeting of the IAWA, a proposal was made by Steve Gardner to establish a Howard Prechtel Memorial Trophy to be presented in Howard’s memory to the lifter who scores the highest amended total for their record lift at the Gold Cup, using the Blindt Formula to compare the different lifts.  This was passed unanimously by the members in attendance.  Steve has agreed to get a trophy made for this year’s Gold Cup.   The Howard Prechtel Memorial Trophy will, “in a sense” recognize the Gold Cup’s BEST LIFTER.   Hopefully, this will become an annual award at the Gold Cup.  I will do what I can to make sure that that happens. 

Steve Gardner summed up this memorial trophy excellently by saying, “I felt it would nice to remember Howard in this way, as the Gold Cup was Howard’s baby, and it was Howard who proposed the idea of the Gold Cup.  It will be great to see who is the first winner of the Howard Prechtel Memorial Trophy!”

More World Meet News

by Al Myers

The meet results from the 2012 IAWA World Championships have been amended since the initial release of these results, and now everything should be correct.  If you lifted in the meet please check over your listed results to verify that they are correct. If you notice any problems or issues, please notify me so I can investigate the cause of the differences.  One of the beautiful things about website reporting is that changes can easily be made to meet results if errors are found so that EVENTUALLY everything is “dead on” correct.  With written published results – this is not the case. 

I think this blog has finally “put the wrap on” the 2012 Championships.  I still have a few Tshirts left over if anyone wants one – I’ll sell them to you cheap now!  In closing, I would like to include a few words from Steve Gardner that he had to say after the meet:

A FEW WORDS: Before the Championships started, one minutes silence was observed in memory of John Vernachio. This was followed by an Opening Ceremony of the Nations Anthems.The 2012 World Championship was a resounding success thanks to the hard work and organisation by the Promoters Al Myers and Chad Ullom. Everyone that travelled to Salina in Kansas for the 25thOpen World Championships thoroughly enjoyed themselves and this showed on the platform with some excellent lifting and performances. Lots of National and International records were broken over the two days, and Drug Testing was carried out. Al and his family showed terrific hospitality to competitors, especially those travelling from overseas. A special well done to Dan Wagman from Colorado for taking the overall best spot, just ahead of Chad Ullom who finished second overall, and an amazing female performance saw Ruth Jackson forge through to finish third best overall from the whole field. Excellent work by all the loaders and officals helped things to run smooth. Big thanks to Scott Tully for use of the venue and to Darren Barnhart for taking the photographs. At the conclusion of the lifting everyone was treated to a Neck Lifting exhibition by Eric Todd and Chad Ullom where both lifters went over 1000 pounds! As everyone said goodbye and left the venue, the hot topic of conversation was the 2013 World Championships which will take place in Preston, England the first weekend in October, so we hope to see everyone there in 12 months time!

World Meeting Minutes

by Steve Gardner

The IAWA World Council Annual General Meeting – Friday 5th October 7.30pm Salina, Kansas, USA

Roll Call: Steve Gardner, Al Myers, Paula Delamata, Chris Bass, Frank Allen, Chad Ullom, Thom Van Vleck, Mike Murdock, Denny Habecker, Art Montini, George Dick, Janet Dick, Graham Saxton, Toni Saxton, Karen Gardner, Tim Piper, Dawn Piper, Dennis Mitchell, Flossy Mitchell, Bob Geib, Susan Sees, Frank Ciavattone, John Mahon, Sam Trew

Past Minutes:

The Minutes of the 2011 AGM were read and matters arising were discussed …The Lynch bodyweight formula had been extended to 180 kilos – The Power Row had been accepted as a new lift – International Venues were sanctioned for 2013..etc

Election of IAWA New Committee:

Steve Gardner stood down as International President after 12 years (having followed Howard Prechtel who did 12 years) and handed over to Al Myers of the USA.

General Secretary – Frank Allen

The IAWA Technical Committee: Dennis Mitchell (USA)  Denny Habecker (USA)  Al Myers (USA)  Steve Gardner (Eng)  Steve Sherwood (Eng)  Peter Phillips (Australia)

International Vice Presidents: USA= Chad Ullom and Denny Habecker, England: Steve Gardner, Scotland: George Dick, Australia: To be announced!

International Events Previously Sanctioned for 2013:World Championships – 5th & 6th October – Preston, England Promoter: Mark Haydock.
Lifts Day 1 = Clean and Press / Cont. Snatch / Straight Arm Pullover / O H Vertical Bar Lift
Lifts Day 2 = Squat / OH Dumbell C & Jerk / Trap Bar Deadlift

Gold Cup – 2nd November – Lebanon, PA, USA – Promoter: Denny Habecker

International Events Sanctioned for 2014:World Championships – first weekend October – Boston, Mass. USA – Promoter – Frank Ciavattone.

Gold Cup: Either…Steve Gardner in Burton, England or George Dick in Glasgow, Scotland (yet to be decided)

There had been no items of business put to the Technical Committee, so nothing further to discuss!

It was agreed that one minutes silence would be held before the start of the 2012 World Championships in memory of John Vernacchio!

Al Myers gave a short talk about the arrangements for the World Championships during the coming weekend

There being no further business, meeting closed at 8.30pm

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