Post by McLifter on Sept 12, 2017 18:11:20 GMT -5
Western’s thoughts:
The 2017 CPU Westerns Powerlifting Championships is now in the record books. It was a long process to prepare for this meet. We needed to decide as a Province to submit a bid. When we did that people stepped up and we were connected with Tourism Manitoba who helped us put together a wonderful proposal that was well received. This past February, once the CPU Executive Council decided to award the bid to Manitoba the logistics of meet planning began.
There is now a certain amount of responsibility to host a top notch, first class event for the CPU. We are a growing sport with very competitive athletes. It is our duty as the Provincial affiliate of the CPU and as Meet Directors and Referees to ensure that the highest standard of quality is established and maintained. In that way our athletes will be better prepared as they progress through the ranks and represent Canada on the International stage.
Some of you may have heard me say throughout this process that hosting a meet is a community effort. In Manitoba the MPA has a tradition of working by committee. What that means is that no one person is solely responsible for the success or failure of the event. We get together, work to our strengths and delegate duties to make our powerlifting events happen. I am proud to say that the MPA and her members stepped up in a big way this year.
Susan Haywood and Amanda Burg were the meet directors but it was an effort by more than these two ladies. Amanda did an amazing job of exploring and securing the Victoria Inn as our venue. She also worked very hard to recruit an amazing collection of sponsors to help support our event. Susan used her experience and vision to guide the process and to craft a lifter friendly environment.
Devin Laferriere volunteered to design and make the trophies. He also worked to make the banner that hung behind the platform visually appealing. His work was amazing and I feel that the athletes that won the best lifter awards will have a memento worthy of their trophy case.
Mathew Bowen again stepped up as Volunteer Coordinator to arrange an amazing platoon of spotters and loaders, score table, speaker and sales volunteers that really made the meet flow. I have never seen such a consistent group of volunteers and your help and hard work were very much appreciated. Well done Mathew!
Our Vice President Rob Snow used his creativity and savvy to ensure we had a memorable lifting platform. Rob coordinated the set up and the tear down of the venue and was an eager participant in our organizing meetings while bouncing ideas off of each other out here in the Interlake. He also was acting in an official capacity as Referee or Technical Controller throughout the weekend.
David Gurvey connected us with Tourism Manitoba, he then secured Winnipeg Pins from the city for the lifter bags and used his connections to get Winnipeg’s own Mayor the Honorable Brian Bowman to come to our opening ceremonies and welcome the lifters, coaches and out of province vendors to our city and event.
There were some real work horses on the platform throughout the weekend. Ben Langley helped out for two solid days before flying out to South Africa to compete for Canada in the Commonwealth Powerlifting Championships. Ryan Kolesar withdrew from the competition due to injury and then worked harder that he would have lifting by spotting for several days. Brooklyn, Anastasia, Thea, Jennifer, Jenny, and the list goes on all worked very hard to cover the various volunteer positions we had available.
Andrew Langelaar built some new Chalk Boxes worthy of powerlifters to use in the back room. Then he lifted on Sunday and was the best overall Junior Male Powerlifter!
We had 207 entries and when the chalk dust settled I believe I counted 185 competitors. There some withdrawals due to sickness or injury and some lifters had conflicts which prevented them from travelling. There were others that did not show but that is the norm for larger meets.
How about those MPA member performances? Amanda Moffitt won her class in the M1 women. CJ Stewart broke the 47kg Women’s Open Benchpress record and had the second highest Wilks Total. She was second only to Hailey Kostynuik who had a massive 456 Wilks and her own National Record. Nhan Nguyen had the second highest Wilks for the men and won Gold in a stacked 83kg weigh class. In fact I believe that Manitoba swept the medals in this class. Jannelle Van Den Bosch not only won her class she secured her first ever 400 Wilks. Kristy Fisher won the 63kg Open Women’s class. Dave Gurvey won the M2 74kg class. Paige Kernot destroyed the competition in the 72kg Junior Women’s class. Megan Swidnicki won Gold and Jocelyn Blake took Silver in the Open Women’s 84kg class. As mentioned Hailey won Gold in the Open 84+ and Lexie Elias took the Bronze in the same class.
In the Junior Men’s division Mathew Roberts took Silver in the 74kg Sub Junior category. Liam Shaw won Gold in the 105 Junior class. Jaydan Sisson took Silver in the 83kg Junior category with Michael Lamothe and Christian Lozano taking the Bronze and fourth respectively in the same class. Phuoc Nhut Tran took Silver in the Junior 105 class and Andrew Langelaar as mentioned won the 120+ Junior Men’s class and the overall best Junior lifter.
The top six places in the Men’s 83kg class belonged to Manitobans. Nhan Nguyen – Gold, Michael Chan – Silver, Henry de Guzman Bronze and Kurt Kornelsen just missing Bronze and finishing fourth. Brian Duaqui was sixth! It was a big class. Devan Normandin tied for third but took fourth on bodyweight in the 93kg class. Devin Laferriere took the Bronze in the Open 120kg class and Daniil Naumov took the Bronze in the Open Men’s 120+ class.
In the Benchpress Jessica Antony took the Gold in the Open Women’s 84kg class. Olimar Gutierrez won the Gold in the Junior Men’s 93kg Bench and Mathew Bowen (puking all the way on his third attempt ) took Silver in the Men’s 83kg Bench.
We got to see Ryan Stinn conquer his long time goal of a 400kg Squat! Also, our friend and neighbour from Atikokan, ON Joe Lecuyer benched a monstrous 255kg and just miss 265kg on his third in the Classic 120+ Open Men’s class.
We had two new National Referees pass their tests. Congratulations to Angelina Van Ryswyk from Alberta and Linda McFeeters from Ontario on accomplishing this feat. Thank you to Bette Festing (BC), Lucas Tetreault (SK), Rhaea Stinn (SK), Shantelle Szuch (SK), Ryan Fowler (SK), and President Mark Giffin for coming to assist Sue, myself, Robert Snow, Krista Sanger, Mathew Bowen and Janet Loesel Sitar in handling the officiating duties.
The sport of Powerlifting can offer us many things. It makes us stronger, improves our self-worth, connects us with the community, and is just darned fun to do. I am very proud to be connected to such a wonderful group of people. I think the future looks bright for our sport overall and our sport within Manitoba.
Thank you to everyone who helped to make this a success. We will see you on the wood.
Brock
The 2017 CPU Westerns Powerlifting Championships is now in the record books. It was a long process to prepare for this meet. We needed to decide as a Province to submit a bid. When we did that people stepped up and we were connected with Tourism Manitoba who helped us put together a wonderful proposal that was well received. This past February, once the CPU Executive Council decided to award the bid to Manitoba the logistics of meet planning began.
There is now a certain amount of responsibility to host a top notch, first class event for the CPU. We are a growing sport with very competitive athletes. It is our duty as the Provincial affiliate of the CPU and as Meet Directors and Referees to ensure that the highest standard of quality is established and maintained. In that way our athletes will be better prepared as they progress through the ranks and represent Canada on the International stage.
Some of you may have heard me say throughout this process that hosting a meet is a community effort. In Manitoba the MPA has a tradition of working by committee. What that means is that no one person is solely responsible for the success or failure of the event. We get together, work to our strengths and delegate duties to make our powerlifting events happen. I am proud to say that the MPA and her members stepped up in a big way this year.
Susan Haywood and Amanda Burg were the meet directors but it was an effort by more than these two ladies. Amanda did an amazing job of exploring and securing the Victoria Inn as our venue. She also worked very hard to recruit an amazing collection of sponsors to help support our event. Susan used her experience and vision to guide the process and to craft a lifter friendly environment.
Devin Laferriere volunteered to design and make the trophies. He also worked to make the banner that hung behind the platform visually appealing. His work was amazing and I feel that the athletes that won the best lifter awards will have a memento worthy of their trophy case.
Mathew Bowen again stepped up as Volunteer Coordinator to arrange an amazing platoon of spotters and loaders, score table, speaker and sales volunteers that really made the meet flow. I have never seen such a consistent group of volunteers and your help and hard work were very much appreciated. Well done Mathew!
Our Vice President Rob Snow used his creativity and savvy to ensure we had a memorable lifting platform. Rob coordinated the set up and the tear down of the venue and was an eager participant in our organizing meetings while bouncing ideas off of each other out here in the Interlake. He also was acting in an official capacity as Referee or Technical Controller throughout the weekend.
David Gurvey connected us with Tourism Manitoba, he then secured Winnipeg Pins from the city for the lifter bags and used his connections to get Winnipeg’s own Mayor the Honorable Brian Bowman to come to our opening ceremonies and welcome the lifters, coaches and out of province vendors to our city and event.
There were some real work horses on the platform throughout the weekend. Ben Langley helped out for two solid days before flying out to South Africa to compete for Canada in the Commonwealth Powerlifting Championships. Ryan Kolesar withdrew from the competition due to injury and then worked harder that he would have lifting by spotting for several days. Brooklyn, Anastasia, Thea, Jennifer, Jenny, and the list goes on all worked very hard to cover the various volunteer positions we had available.
Andrew Langelaar built some new Chalk Boxes worthy of powerlifters to use in the back room. Then he lifted on Sunday and was the best overall Junior Male Powerlifter!
We had 207 entries and when the chalk dust settled I believe I counted 185 competitors. There some withdrawals due to sickness or injury and some lifters had conflicts which prevented them from travelling. There were others that did not show but that is the norm for larger meets.
How about those MPA member performances? Amanda Moffitt won her class in the M1 women. CJ Stewart broke the 47kg Women’s Open Benchpress record and had the second highest Wilks Total. She was second only to Hailey Kostynuik who had a massive 456 Wilks and her own National Record. Nhan Nguyen had the second highest Wilks for the men and won Gold in a stacked 83kg weigh class. In fact I believe that Manitoba swept the medals in this class. Jannelle Van Den Bosch not only won her class she secured her first ever 400 Wilks. Kristy Fisher won the 63kg Open Women’s class. Dave Gurvey won the M2 74kg class. Paige Kernot destroyed the competition in the 72kg Junior Women’s class. Megan Swidnicki won Gold and Jocelyn Blake took Silver in the Open Women’s 84kg class. As mentioned Hailey won Gold in the Open 84+ and Lexie Elias took the Bronze in the same class.
In the Junior Men’s division Mathew Roberts took Silver in the 74kg Sub Junior category. Liam Shaw won Gold in the 105 Junior class. Jaydan Sisson took Silver in the 83kg Junior category with Michael Lamothe and Christian Lozano taking the Bronze and fourth respectively in the same class. Phuoc Nhut Tran took Silver in the Junior 105 class and Andrew Langelaar as mentioned won the 120+ Junior Men’s class and the overall best Junior lifter.
The top six places in the Men’s 83kg class belonged to Manitobans. Nhan Nguyen – Gold, Michael Chan – Silver, Henry de Guzman Bronze and Kurt Kornelsen just missing Bronze and finishing fourth. Brian Duaqui was sixth! It was a big class. Devan Normandin tied for third but took fourth on bodyweight in the 93kg class. Devin Laferriere took the Bronze in the Open 120kg class and Daniil Naumov took the Bronze in the Open Men’s 120+ class.
In the Benchpress Jessica Antony took the Gold in the Open Women’s 84kg class. Olimar Gutierrez won the Gold in the Junior Men’s 93kg Bench and Mathew Bowen (puking all the way on his third attempt ) took Silver in the Men’s 83kg Bench.
We got to see Ryan Stinn conquer his long time goal of a 400kg Squat! Also, our friend and neighbour from Atikokan, ON Joe Lecuyer benched a monstrous 255kg and just miss 265kg on his third in the Classic 120+ Open Men’s class.
We had two new National Referees pass their tests. Congratulations to Angelina Van Ryswyk from Alberta and Linda McFeeters from Ontario on accomplishing this feat. Thank you to Bette Festing (BC), Lucas Tetreault (SK), Rhaea Stinn (SK), Shantelle Szuch (SK), Ryan Fowler (SK), and President Mark Giffin for coming to assist Sue, myself, Robert Snow, Krista Sanger, Mathew Bowen and Janet Loesel Sitar in handling the officiating duties.
The sport of Powerlifting can offer us many things. It makes us stronger, improves our self-worth, connects us with the community, and is just darned fun to do. I am very proud to be connected to such a wonderful group of people. I think the future looks bright for our sport overall and our sport within Manitoba.
Thank you to everyone who helped to make this a success. We will see you on the wood.
Brock