The weights were heavy and the cheers were loud during the 20th anniversary of the North American Powerlifting Federation Competition.
The event, held at the Grand Cayman Marriott Beach Resort on 7-12 Aug., featured everything from Special Olympians putting their strength on display to a range of records being broken, but it was team Cayman who exceeded expectations.
More than 300 athletes from 13 countries, including 12 from Cayman, participated. The local lifters powered their way to six overall medals, including two gold.
Tony McInerney, president of the Cayman Islands Powerlifting Organization, was one of two Cayman athletes who won gold – the other being Caymanian Special Olympian Roland Ebanks.
McInerney told the Compass he was beyond proud of how team Cayman performed against some of the world’s mightiest.
“All did quite well,” McInerney said, noting that while many athletes from the island did not medal, they all achieved personal best lifts – an achievement worth taking pride in.
Cayman’s Arianna McCoy put her power on display en route to winning an overall bronze medal in the 84+ kilogramme junior division. Also taking bronze was Daniel Foley in the 105kg Sub Junior division and Zared McLaughlin in the 83kg Open division.
Taking home silver was Bogdan Nikolic, and Caymanian Shania Espinoza-Britton, who may not have brought home an overall medal, took third in both the squat and deadlift sets.
“[Cayman] started with Claire Rafferty… she set a lot of personal records,” McInerney said. “Brendan Foley, our first sub junior to compete, he’s only 15 years old, and he did quite well for himself. He placed fourth and he was just shy of getting third place; he gave it his all and left it all there.”
Overall medals are awarded to those who earn top three spots in all three disciplines – squats, deadlifts and bench presses.
International standouts
This was the second time that the event has been held in the Cayman Islands – the last time being 10 years ago. McInerney noted that it was the biggest championships held in the federation’s 20-year history.
“It’s huge,” he said. “It’s the biggest North American powerlifting championships that’s been held.”
But why was it the ‘biggest’? Well, when Ray Williams is in the house, the masses will follow. He currently holds the world record for the heaviest drug-tested, raw squat at 1,080 pounds.
“We had a lot of North American records, world records broken; from sub junior, to ladies’ and men’s. We did got to see [Ray Williams] squat 995 pounds,” McInerney said.
“We also had ‘Downtown’ Phil Brown; he’s here,” he said, excitedly, about the two-time gold medallist at the Special Olympics.
American Jonathan O’Brian Garcia claimed a world record in the 66kg open division when he powered through a 607.37 pound squat, earning gold for his efforts.
US multi-powerlifting champion Mark Leebrick Jr. also pumped up those watching the competition when he squatted nearly 800 pounds en route to winning the open division.
“I went to the Cayman Islands for the NAPF Championship with one goal in mind and that was to put up the biggest total I could in order to put myself in position to bring home the gold for the USA, and I did just that,” Leebrick Jr. wrote on his Facebook page.
Leebrick Jr., 28, first squatted 749.6 pounds before bench pressing 490 pounds, and finished off by deadlifting 562.2 pounds to win with a total of 1,802.3 pounds overall – a new personal best.
“Right before I made my way to the platform for my last deadlift, it all hit me at once that I’d finally done what I have been working 13 long years for,” Leebrick Jr. added in his post. “I stepped on the platform with tears in my eyes and a lump in my throat.
“It’s difficult to find the words to explain how much it meant to stand atop the podium while the Star Spangled Banner played. I am beyond thankful for the opportunities the sport of Powerlifting has afforded me.”
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