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MN USAPL NEWS
Arnold Sports Festival 2009 by Brad Madvig and Aaron Friday
USA Powerlifting was invited back again to showcase their stuff at the Arnold Sports Festival and Minnesota was there. The ASF is not your atypical Powerlifting event and can not be summarized completely in any one article. Natational Champion Harriet Hall even said on the USAPL forum that the ASF is 'more fun then the World Games'. An event like this would not be complete without Minnesota making its mark and that I am happy to say we did in grand style. Here is a report by one such person whom traveled with Team Minnesota (and guests) Aaron Friday right from his blog. (to read the full report by Aaron you will need to visit his 'blob' at this link
We're back, and I'm overstimulated. This experience will take a week to blog out of me, so I'll do it in chapters.
The Airport All members of the Minnesota RAW Powerlifting team happened to book the same flight to Columbus, OH on Thursday morning.
The roster included:
* Maura Shuttleworth, 114lb class
* Fawn Friday, 123lb class
* Jim Cahill, 275lb + class
* Brad Madvig, 275lb + class
* Kyle Milnes, 275lb + class
It's a good showing, albeit imbalanced in terms of weight classes. It's an invitation-only event, so there's really no way around it. Some of the middleweight lifters were invited, but just chose not to go. Small ladies and huge men is what Minnesota ended up with. Fawn, of course, is my better half, and Maura is our close friend. Kyle has been to our house for kettlebell lifting, chow, and conversation. I like Kyle. I had met Brad before, and had seen Jim around meets and at the shooting range, but I never had a chance to share food, beer, and conversation with them before (my preference for getting to know people). That changed this weekend.
There were two surprises. #1 ~ I've know Rich Edinger for more than 20 years through my brother, and I didn't know he would be lifting at the Arnold's. When we bumped into him at the gate, I was pleased, because Rich is a fun guy to hang around with. Some people just know how to have fun, and entertain me to no end. Rich is one of them. And he gets really, really riled up about lifting, which is awesome. He's a 275-pounder from North Dakota. #2 ~ I met Lou Ferrigno (the Incredible Hulk and Mr. Universe) outside the restroom, which was closed for cleaning. We both had to pee and were standing outside the restroom as our flight was about to board. Lou looked tired after a red-eye flight from California, but was willing to engage me in conversation about the Arnold as long as I looked right at him so he could read my lips (Lou is deaf). We discussed Haiku, preparations for surviving nuclear fallout, Austrian economics, and the Tactical Strength Challenge. No, we didn't actually talk about these things, but Lou informed me that the Arnold was a great event, I told him Fawn was competing in powerlifting, and we eventually got to use the restroom. Small talk.
After Fawn and I boarded the plane and found our seats, we found Lou occupying one of them. So now we had to kick the Incredible Hulk out of our airplane seat. LOL! He's just a person like any other. He was accommodating, but obviously tired. I have to say, being tired and sporting bed-hair, he still looked fantastic for a 60-ish ex-bodybuilder. He is still a large man (probably 260) and looks quite healthy and fit, except for some stiff hips. Arnold Sports Festival 2009
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