USAWA

by Al Myers

The deadline has passed (September 15th) for entry into the IAWA World Championships to be held on October 6th & 7th in Salina, Kansas.   A total of 25 lifters have entered, which looks to be a good field of competition!  I am excited that there are 6 overseas lifters registered – from England, Scotland and Australia.  This will make this years meet a TRUE World Competition.  In the past there have been people who have not liked to refer to this big IAWA meet as a “World Meet” because of the limited number of countries in attendance.  I will say this – the invite is open to ANYONE IN THE WORLD to attend, so why is it not a World Meet?   Just because most countries elect not to attend?  No one is being excluded from participating in this one, so I would say that qualifies it as a World Competition.  I will always refer to this competition as the World Meet. 

I want to thank everyone who has entered.  Chad and I are “in the middle” of making the final plans to insure that this will be  a TOP NOTCH Championship.  Part of this plan-making process involves getting the final count of awards for the lifters, which was done first thing this morning.  That is one of the many reasons we needed to get a good “head-count” by enforcing a deadline for entry.  The awards we are giving out are VERY NICE and we want our order to be exact on this as to not leave any “left overs”.  So the order went out for 25 this morning for those 25 lifters which got entered in time –  and which was the final date deadline the trophy shop gave me.

Now onto “my soapbox” for a spell.  Promoting these type of big competitions cost money.  Anyone who thinks meet directors “get rich” are clueless – and these people should promote a competition themselves firsthand to find out how much it costs to put on a good show.  The entry fees never cover all expenses. I’m just lucky Chad agreed to “share the losses” with me on this one.   We made it pretty clear that there was a entry deadline with penalties for late entries (if they were going to be accepted).  Chad and I have decided we MAY take late entries with this stipulation – entry fee is now $100 and the late entrant will receive no award (since this order has already been placed), and you have asked us and received permission before the day of the competition  if there is still “room” for you to enter.  Another thing – an entry is not complete until the entry form AND ENTRY FEE is in hand.  I’m not interested in good will gestures of taking the word that a lifter will show and making plans for that, only to be stiffed.  It’s happened too many times to me in the past. 

Again – I want to thank all lifters who have entered.  Chad and I will do our best to insure that you will have a very enjoyable time!   And special thanks goes to Art Montini for getting the first entry in!!!

REGISTERED ENTRIES FOR WORLDS
Art Montini USA
George Dick Scotland
Frank Allen England
Sam Trews Australia
John Mahon Australia
Chad Ullom USA
Lance Foster USA
Paula De La Mata England
Graham Saxton England
Tim Piper USA
Dawn Piper USA
Dennis Mitchell USA
Ruth Jackson USA
Al Springs USA
Denny Habecker USA
LaVerne Myers USA
Rudy Bletscher USA
Frank Ciavattone USA
Dan Wagman USA
Bob Geib USA
Susan Sees USA
Dave Glasgow USA
Doug Kressly USA
Jera Kressly USA
Randy Smith USA