USAWA

by Jeff “Trex” Bankens

A great day of lifting in Louisiana!

The inaugural Bayou Beast Bash turned out to be a huge success! Lifters came from as far away as Kentucky and Missouri to compete in-person, while three additional lifters competed remotely with their own officials on hand. More importantly than the lifting, it was nice to see the arms of the USAWA reaching into the deep south. In fact, I understand that I had the privilege to host the very first USAWA meet in Louisiana.

When people think of Southwest Louisiana, I would imagine things like alligators, swamps, and the Petro-chemical industry, steamy summers, and mild winters come to mind. The timing of the meet couldn’t have been better! Temperatures ranged from the 50’sF – to 60’sF which made for perfect lifting conditions. As a side note, if it would have been held two days later, we would have been in the midst of Winter Storm Enzo, record cold, record snow, and blizzard conditions. As of this writing, there is still snow and ice on the ground. The day of the meet two lifts were contested, the Hackenschmidt Floor Press and the Bavarian Deadlift. We had many age groups represented and the lifters showed up with purpose and intensity. The results are posted below.

After the meet was completed, we held a records day. Even though we were tired, we still had some energy left in the tank. Pending official approval, many age group / weight class records were set or exceeded by several of our lifters. Those results will be shared on the website once the officials review and record the results. In closing, I want to say that the USAWA proved to be what I thought it was, a group of people who enjoy camaraderie, lifting, and friendship as much as (if not more than) lifting, competing, and setting records.

As this was my very first lifting competition, I am very pleased that things went well and that I was able to make new friends in a sport I truly adore. Most importantly, I got to share this experience with my eleven-year-old son, Isaac. The memories we made will last a lifetime and have energized us to ramp-up training for the Nationals this coming summer. We look forward to participating again and want to give a big thanks to Clint Poore, Tony Lupo, Sanjiv Gupta, and my loving wife for bringing this to fruition.

DATE: 1/18/25
LOCATION: IRON SHARPENS IRON WL CLUB, WESTLAKE, LA / REMOTE MEET FOR 3 PARTICIPANTS IN COLORADO
MEET DIRECTOR: JEFF BANKENS
REFEREES / OFFICIALS: (IN-PERSON) CLINT POORE, TONY LUPO; (REMOTE) SANJIV GUPTA, JARROD FOBES
ALL LIFTS RECORDED IN LBS. & ALL WEIGHT CLASSES & BODY WEIGHTS MEASURED IN KG
ALL COMPETITORS ARE IN THE MEN’S DIVISION

Columns below are: location, name, age, bodyweight, weight class, hack floor press, bavarian deadlift, total, adjusted total with lynch and age factor, and placing.

	NAME				AGE	BW	CLASS	HACK	BAV DL	TOTAL	ADJ	PLACING
IN-PERSON	ISAAC BANKENS				11	81.8KG	85KG	80	183	263	331.8	7TH
IN-PERSON	JEFF BANKENS				47	132.4KG	SHW	250	387	637	505.9	5TH
REMOTE	ELIJAH CONLEY				18	77.8KG	80KG	165	193	358	360.5	6TH
REMOTE	JARROD FOBES				47	99.2KG	1OOKG	266	319	585	537.5	3RD
REMOTE	SANJIV GUPTA				53	95.4KG	100KG	195	319	514	509.2	4TH
IN-PERSON	TONY LUPO				58	109.7KG	110KG	250	342	592	568.6	2ND
IN-PERSON	CLINT POORE				51	115.1KG	120KG	430	437	867	764.8	1ST

Jarrod Forbes also lifted 345 in the Bavarian Deadlift as a 4th attempt for record.