Friday's fringe benefits

Irish weightlifting and East Coast Barbell are going global, ladies and gentlemen. Have a read about the inaugral Ireland/Scotland vs California event on the IWF website; we are the third or fourth story down.

It has taken time and effort for myself, Glenn Pendlay and Matt Johnson from California Strength to set this gig up, but it finally happening tomorrow evening. We have also set up a live feed that will show the competition from both sides of the Atlantic Ocean and here is the link. This is a first in international weightlifting and has hopefully set up new possibilities for cross-cultural links in weightlifting and sporting countries. The idea is to create more awareness of the sport of weightlifting in general and specifically Irish weightlifting. I know East Coast Barbell can help lead this charge and this is one of the main reasons that I am thankful of all the support the IAWA continues to give us and also Colin Buckley for helping us get recognised by the IWF and EWF.

Here is the Irish/Scottish team with their weight class and lifts:

Scotland:
Craig Carfray: 69kg class: 98/128--17 years old
Dale Cree: 85kg class: 105/130--17 years old
Peter Kirkbride: 94kg class: 146/186--23 years old
Kyle Pearson: 105kg class--107/145--19 years old

Ireland:
C. Byrd: 77kg class--114/147--23 years old
Sami Dowling: 85kg class--101/128--23 years old
Kevin D'Arcy begin_of_the_skype_highlighting     end_of_the_skype_highlighting: 94kg class--130/160--25 years old--returning from injury
Barry Kinsella: 105kg class, I will weigh in around 95kg--118/147



Here are the rules of the competition according to the gospel of Pendlay written by the man himself--even if he is a red necked, slack jawed yokel from Kansas:

Rules of Engagement

Other than the following, all normal weightlifting rules apply.

Each team is allowed 8 men of any weight class. Each team lifts as in a normal weightlifting session, with the bar starting at the lightest lift and progressing to the heaviest.

Lifts from each team alternate in the following manner, Team A takes first attempt, Team B takes first attempt, Team A takes second attempt, Team B takes second attempt, Team A takes third attempt, and so on, till all 24 attempts for each team have been taken. Each 1 minute clock will start when the preceding lift from the opposite team has been judged. There will be no 2 minute clocks.

The contest will be scored with 5, 3, 2, and 1 points for places 1st through 4th. Any lifter placing below 4th in a weight class will score no points. Highest score wins. In the case of a tie, the team with the lifter that has the highest sinclair formula wins.

If that doesnt break the tie, then internet viewers of the opposite sex of the lifters will vote on the single most attractive participant, and the team he or she is on will be the winner. That seems fair.



So, I am off to Kilmarnock where we will lift in Charlie Hamilton's gym--some of you may remember the training camp we organised for myself, Byrdie and Andy Murphy last year and all our other Scottish experiences-- tomorrow morning very early. We will lift at 6pm our time and 10am Californian time and I am really looking forward to it. I have this competition, where I know I will improve on the 108/137 in my last competition and then I have the Northern Ireland Open in which I will be a little fresher; then I have the big one in London three weeks after and boy, I am looking forward to that one. Each competition and week's training will build on the last and I know I can get my 272kg total in London. Bring it on!