WKC GA State Kettlebell Sport Championships
This past Saturday, 6/27/09, marked a big day for the sport of kettlebell lifting. The Atlanta Barbell & Kettlebell Club and Extreme Conditioning & Fitness hosted the first ever GA State Kettlebell Sport Championship kettlebell competition. This competition was conducted under the rules of kettlebell sport set forth by Valery Fedorenko’s World Kettlebell Club (WKC). This meet allowed GA State residents to set GA State Kettlebell Sport records, in addition there was an open meet that anyone could participate in. Originally 17 lifters had registered to compete, but due to some last minute pull-outs and an injury we ended up having 12 lifters participate. Because this meet was conducted under the WKC “umbrella” lifters were able to achieve qualifying totals for the WKC World Championships in Chicago this coming August. Lifters needed to achieve a “class 2″ lifter ranking or higher to qualify for worlds.
Here are the results:
Lifter Results (in no particular order!)
Biathlon Men
1. Mike House, TX: age-40, 20kg bell, 90+kg class, 78 jerks + 83 snatches – WKC Rank 2
2. Sean Armstead, IL: age-46, 24kg bell, 90+kg class, 78 jerks + 74 snatches
3. David Elkins, OR: age-63, 20kg bell, 90kg class, 90 jerks + 70 snatches – WKC Rank 2 *Best Male Lifter
Snatch-Only Men
1. Ken Love, AL: age-67, 16kg bell, 90+kg class, 82+77 snatches (159 total)
Long Cycle Men
1. Mathew Pendleton, NC: age-10, 10lb bell, 50kg class, 62 reps
2. John Sansone, PA: age-57, 16kg bell, 80kg class, 61 reps – WKC Rank 3
3. Scott Shetler, GA: age 34, 16kg bell, 90+kg class, 72 reps – WKC Rank 3
Long Cycle Women
1. Lesley Koonce, NC: age-41, 8kg bell, 70kg class, 63 reps – WKC Rank 3
2. Irene Sansone, PA: age-50, 8kg bell, 75+kg class, 50 reps – WKC Rank 4
3. Dianna Pendleton, NC: age-42, 12kg bell, 70kg class, 58 reps – WKC Rank 2
4. Sarah Gilling, NC: age-24, 12kg bell, 65kg class, 58 reps – WKC Rank 2
5. Mary Anne Mahone, GA: age-24, 16kg bell, 60kg class, 57 reps – WKC Rank CMS *Best Female Lifter
Georgia State records were set by Mary Anne Mahone and Scott Shetler. All lifters achieving a WKC Rank 2 or higher are qualified to lift in the WKC Worlds in Chicago August 29th. Good luck!
I would like to extend a very special thank you to the chief advisor of the WKC, Valery Fedorenko and the editor of the WKC, Eric Liford for making the trip down from Ohio to help run and judge the competition. Had Valery not been in attendance Mary Anne would not have been able to attempt to achieve a Candidate for Master of Sport (CMS) ranking – what makes Mary Anne’s CMS ranking even more impressive is that she has only been training for kettlebell sport with me for a little over 3 months!!
Sarah Gilling of Team Edge and Mary Anne Mahone of the Atlanta Kettlebell Club
Another positive factor about this meet is that we stressed strict performance requirements for the lifts. Overhead lockout and fixation of the kettlebell is particularly stressed not only for the quality of the lift but for the safety of the lifter. We were quite disappointed with the quality of lifts being passed at the Arnold Classic this year, so one thing you will see with official WKC competitions is a very high standard of judging. If you come to one of our meets you WILL earn your lifts, totals and rankings. Soft lockouts and weak fixation will not pass. I’m happy to report that there were very few “no counts” issued at this competition and the ones that were issued were understood by the lifters and coaches. This is a step in the right direction for the sport!
I would like to extend a special thank you to all the lifters who participated and travelled in from all over the country to support this competition and this sport! Without your help we couldn’t pull this off!
A special thanks to my friends Sarah and Ross Gilling of Team Edge for not only bringing their whole crew down from NC, but for supplying extra kettlebells a clock and fan – Team Edge rocks!! Thanks Sarah and Ross!
The next Atlanta Barbell & Kettlebell Club and Extreme Conditioning & Fitness sponsored kettlebell competition will be the 2nd annual WKC/AKC Southeast Kettlebell Sport Championships on December 5th!
Get to training and we’ll see you there!
Thanks!!!
Scott
