Men:

* National Record
$ World Record

Best Lifters:

Men's - Dennis Cieri
Female - Jennifer Thompson
Master - Ken Connelly

Team Champions:

Camp Mayhem, Raleigh, NC
Powerlifting Results:

Men:

* National Record
$ World Record

Team Champions:

Mixed Team Champions: On The Run Fitness
Open Team Champions: Florida RAW Dogs

Best Lifters:

Teenage: Eddie Debus
Master: Bill Beekley
Open Light: Omar Bermudez
Open Heavy: Scott Weech

Hosted by 100% RAW President Paul Bossi, the 2006 100% RAW National Bench Press & Powerlifting Championships was an overwhelming success! Held at the Doubletree Hotel in Orlando, Florida, the two-day contest saw lifters representing 19 states with an age span of nearly seventy years including many National and World class lifts. We also had 1 lifter from France come and compete in this meet. Ziet Hichari who broke a record of his own for his country.

This was the most competitive competition the federation has ever had and with the growth we have had over the past 2 years we see more meets like this coming. The event was broke into 2 days to ensure all the lifters of a smooth running meet that ran very efficient in which it was. We had many familiar faces and many new faces who turned many heads with their awesome lifts. We had drug tested 18 lifters and had 1 failure that we are sorry to say.

Sponsors:

We would like to thank our wonderful sponsors for all the donations of goodies for the lifters. Thank you to Bodybuilding.com for the best lifter bags and many gifts they gave for the lifters; Goliath Labs, APT's Pro Weightlifting Gear, criticalbench.com, eWorldSupplements.com, and No Pain - No Gain: The Movie for the supplements, apparel and CD's that went into the winners' prize packages; Mike and Chris of criticalbench.com for spotting for 2 days, bringing many gifts for the lifters and also sponsoring the Bench for reps competition; Fitness Equipment Warehouse of Orlando for the lending of the weights in the warm-ups room; and Milano Paich of FitAt50.com for working and setting that up for us.

National and World Records broken:

We had many National and World Records broken at this event. We had 8 lifters who qualified as Elite Status lifters and 2 lifters missed the Elite Status by 5lbs or less. Our World meets are building up to look very competitive and they will be held in November for the Bench Press and December for the Full Powerlifting.

Friday evening's National Bench Press Championships was highlighted by the grace and power of North Carolina's Jennifer Thompson. An IPF World Champion, Jennifer's 280 pound bench at a bodyweight of 130.7 secured her both a place in the 100% RAW World Record books and Best Lifter honors. It is believed that Jennifer's bench press was the highest pound for pound bench press RAW ever in history of powerlifting for a woman. New Jersey's Dennis Cieri, competing in the 198 pound class, registered an awesome 525 World Record bench and Best Lifter honors.

Dennis has the 2nd highest pound for pound in 100% RAW's highest with a 2.65 ratio. The highest is Will Lynch with a 2.69 ratio for pounds lifters for a pound of body weight or how many times of their weight they lifted. Master lifter Ken Connelly from Illinois (40-44) rounded out the Best Lifter trio with his double-bodyweight World Record bench of 360 pounds in the 181 pound class.

In addition, the contest saw numerous National and World Records being broken, to include a 305 pound bench by Florida's Brian Goetz (132 pound class), Will Lynch's (North Carolina) 445 pound bench in the 181s, and Bert Rosenfeld's (Florida, 181 pound class) 245 pound bench in the 70-74 year old age division. Will's "Camp Mayhem" team also captured the Team Championship trophy.

Saturday's full-power meet proved to be a continuation of Friday's record-breaking feats as Florida lifters Kari Sabin (Women's Master), Omar Bermudez (OPEN, 165), Bill Beekley (45-49, 220), Scott Weech (20-24, 308), and Beau Moore (40-44, SHW) were joined by Oregon's Joey King (20-24, 198), New Jersey's Victor Parets (40-44, 198), and New York's Eddie Debus (18-19, 242) to set the pace for an awesome day of lifting.

Kari shattered the World Record books with her lifts of 335, 220, and 405 for a 960 total. Omar, coming off a four-year layoff, lifted flawlessly, registering a 1400 pound total in the 165 pound class. Omar's efforts were rewarded with a first place finish, Best Lightweight Lifter honors, and the Overall Best Lifter award. Joey, an Oregon firefighter, pushed up huge numbers, to include a 635 pound World Record deadlift. Victor's 1435 total secured him a first place finish in the 198s and Best Lifter honors in the heavyweight division. Bill, who serves as the 100% RAW Florida State Chairman, won Best Master Lifter with his lifts if 510, 320, and 600 in the 220s. Eddie, a teenage lifting phenomenon, registered an impressive 1605 pound total, humbly crediting his Lord and Savior after each lift. Scott and Beau rounded out the day's lifting, firing up the crowd and registering the meet's biggest totals with 2040 and 2050 efforts, respectively.

Congratulations to all the lifters on their efforts and accomplishments. The numbers prove that equipment and drugs are not necessary for big totals!

Special Thanks:

Thank you to Elizabeth City Trophy for the wonderful awards which were 1st class as always. Thank you to Adrenaline Gear for their shooting of the DVD and many pictures they have taken of the event which will be on sale soon on our website. Thank you to Powerlifting USA Magazine for the many magazines to pass out to the lifters and the advertisement which helped make the event a success.

We would like to thank the people who made this event possible: Paul Bossi Meet Diector, Head Table Shawn Lyte and Teresa Lancaster, Judges Spero and Caryn Tshontidikis, Jeremy Wright, James Roberts, John Shifflett all who done and exceptional job, Spotters Mike Westerdal and Chris Wilson from Critical Bench, Ray Berry, Scott Deuel and Scott Kuzma. Thank you to all the coaches and lifters who came and made this event a part of Powerlifting history. Thank you to Greg Stott founder of Team IXL for his support of the meet and the many things he helps us with over the course of the year.

More thanks to Chris and Mike of CRITICALBENCH.COM for an incredible job spotting and loading both contests. Chris and Mike saved many lifters from potential injury, and successfully loaded the entire meet without a single miss-load.

And many thanks to Meet Director and 100% RAW President Paul Bossi for hosting a first-class event. The platform area, awards, and hotel arrangements were second-to-none, and many lifters commented on how smooth the contest ran. Well done, brother!

Finally, and most importantly, thanks and praise be to God for an injury-free, drug-free weekend in the greatest country on the face of the earth. Praise His Name, and we'll see you at the Worlds!

God Bless, Spero

contests@bodybuilding.com

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