USAWA

Well following last year when everything was cancelled, Stevie Shanks and I did finally get to run our Gold Cup competition a year late. It was always going to be difficult in the aftermath of Covid, a lot of people still unsure about travel and interaction etc so we knew we would not be as well attended as it might have been and of course we did not expect any foreign lifters to be present, so it was absolutely amazing that we still had 19 lifters on the Gold Cup Platform including Al Myers and Brandon Rein who made it in all the way from Kansas USA. We were blown away by the support, and the competition was really outstanding, in all its three parts this time.

Firstly we had The 2021 Gold Cup first, with 19 lifters aged from 9 to 74, with Sonnie W Gardner and Ray Dews, and a whole range between ranging from Juniors to Open Division lifters and Masters. The variation of different lifts was superb to witness making the whole thing a very exciting spectacle. All the lifters were just amazing, of that there is no doubt! James Gardner took the top amended spot with his Shoulder Drop of 91 kilos to win the Howard Prechtel Award, ahead of Ray Dews with his Bent Arm Pullover of 51 Kilos, with Steve Sherwood in third place with a great 2 hands 2″ Snatch of 62.5 kilos.

Secondly by the usual record attempts where lifters get the chance to lift on the second choice lifts if they haven’t used them already (again all were fantastic, but worthy of special mention was Steve Sherwoods 2 hands 2 inch Dumbells Deadlift of 158.6 kilos which not only took the 70+ Masters record but broke the much younger division record that had been held by Bob Hirsch of the USA since the 90s by over 30 kilos (truly outstanding) .

And then Thirdly, a special one off ‘Shanks Lift Challenge’ because we were at the home of the great Jack Shanks (who was not only present but was right up front as he had been all day, watching and supporting every lift). After Jack relayed his story of how he became the first person in modern times to lift the Dinnie Stones correctly fifty years ago, one hundred years after Dinnie himself did it, and explained how he devised ways to train to lift the Stones…hence the Shanks lift we have today) Seven lifters stood up to the Challenge and it was super entertaining to watch them battle it out, with Paul Barette coming through to win the event, with Steve Andrews in Second and Gary Ell in Third.

The Presentation of Awards after the Banquet was terrific, and after the main prize giving we witnessed the Hall of Fame induction for Paul Barette who had earlier received the Shanks Lift Challenge from Jack Shanks…I think Paul was on cloud nine as they say…what a night!

We were not finished of course because we then moved back into the function hall where Stevie Shanks and his amazing band ‘Flash Harry’ performed a fantastic gig from 10pm through to 1.30am…and well what can you say about it? I am running out of good descriptive words here, they were absolutely electric…what a show, we all felt privileged to be present as we rocked the night away!

This trip was one of the best, and i have done nearly every single World Championships and Gold Cup since day one. Howard Prechtel (God Rest his Soul) who was IAWA’s first President and started the Gold Cup tournament in 1991 would have been so proud that 30 years later, not only that it is still going but that it was as fantastic as it was. The whole trip and event will be remembered by those who were there for a long time, I thank all of the lifters who made the trip, from wherever they traveled, to those who refereed and loaded, to everyone who played a part in it, BUT ESPECIALLY to my great buddy Stevie Shanks who went the extra mile for us all……..and you know what is the most exciting thing?….because this event was held under difficult circumstances because of Covid and restrictions…we have been asked to put the event on again in November 2022 so that we may be able to receive a greater number of lifters from more destinations….and boy o boy Stevie and I cannot wait, I don’t know how we will top this year’s event, but you can bet your bottom dollar we will try….