Newcomers Dr. Osmond Mack and Victor Dudnath will be entering Sunday’s Novices and Junior National Powerlifting Champion-ships in Corriverton with the aim of surpassing what they were doing during training.
For Mack, who is an optician and trains at the Kingsrow Gym, if the competition “motivates” him then he will be moving to the next level which will be to focus more energy on that aspect of his life.
He stated that prior to this competition in Berbice he lifted weights as a form of staying fit but he was advised to enter the competition.
His trainer John ‘Big John’ Edwards expects him to walk away from the competition on Sunday with the best lifter title. Mack, 31, has not placed much emphasis on the tournament but promises to do his best although he lamented the time frame he had to train.
He said that he started training in January but conceded that the training was “fascinating”. Mack, who will be competing in the 72.5kg class, said that his aim at the championships will be 1300lbs. He revealed that during training he dead lifts and squats over 500lbs and his bench press is somewhere in the vicinity of 295lbs.
In Dudnath’s case, the 34-year-old will be aiming to “do much better than what he does during training”. He too started training for the championships in January and will be looking to better his bench press mark of 315lbs, squat of 520 and the dead lift of 455lbs.
Meanwhile, word coming from the Guyana Amateur Powerlifting Federation (GAPF) revealed that several new lifters are expected to debut in the novice, sub-junior (18 years and under), junior (19-23 years) and the open (over 23) categories. However, one of the main clashes will be between juniors Anis Ade Thomas of Berbice and Kenneth Melville.
Thomas is the Caribbean 2010 junior silver medallist while Melville is the North American Regional junior silver medallist of Essequibo. The winner of this epic showdown will find himself on the national team for the fifth annual Caribbean Powerlifting Championships, scheduled for the Cayman Islands in March.
Another clash is anticipated between Caribbean gold medallist John ‘Big John’ Edwards and national heavyweight champion Colin ‘Mr. Clean’ Chesney. Both lifters, who have a healthy rivalry brewing, will be looking to produce their best showing since both are expected to compete in the Cayman Islands.
Both heavyweights will be attempting to become the first Guyanese to break the 800lb/362.81kgs barrier.
Weigh-in time for the competition is 10:30 hours and competition begins at 11:30 hours.
Transportation will be provided by the federation for lifters and bona fide supporters desirous of travelling to Corriverton. The assembly point will be the Linden Bus Park on Hadfield Street and departure time is 08:00 hours.
Squat barrier: Edwards currently has the national squat record of 771.75lbs/350.0kgs; Chesney’s best official attempt, set at the 2010 Senior Championships, is 744.18/337.5kgs.
The new weight categories as fixed by the International Powerlifting Federation (IPF) were put into effect on January 1, 2011. They are: Women 43kg (Sub-junior and junior), 52kg, 57kg, 63kg, 72kg, 84, 84+kg
Men: 53kg (Sub-junior and junior), 59kg, 66kg, 74kg, 83kg, 93kg, 105kg, 120kg, 120+kgs.
