NEW PORT RICHEY
- Last
weekend's Raw
Unity
Powerlifting
Championships 2
was, like the
sport itself,
all about
growth.
For its second
year the
competition,
held at the
Quality Inn and
Suites in
New Port
Richey, drew
more entrants
and added
spectators. All
200 tickets
were snapped
up.
There was also
a
bevy of new
champions and a
number of
broken records,
said Eric
Talmant, the
event's
founder.
"For it being
in its second
year and this
being a sort of
cult sport, I
was pleasantly
surprised by
not only the
turnout, but
the competition
itself this
year," Talmant
said.
Talmant, who
competes as a
lightweight,
created Raw
Unity
Powerlifting
Championships
last year in an
effort to bring
together an
exceedingly
fractured
sport. The
highly regarded
Web site
www.powerliftingwatch.com
lists 24
different
powerlifting
federations
operating
under their
own sets of
rules in the
United
States
alone.
Instead of
catering to a
few different
federations,
Raw Unity tries
to attract
lifters
from as many
groups as
possible to get
them under one
roof. They all
lift under the
same rules and
as a result a
truer champion
is crowned,
Talmant
believes.
"The aim of the
meet is to find
the best
lifters in
the United
States and bend
over backward
for them to
bring them to
this one meet
to truly see
who the best in
each
weight
class is,"
he said. "I'd
like to get
back to the way
it was in the
'70s and '80s,
which was one
national
champion, not
30."
Among the
sport's big
names attracted
to this year's
event was Tony
Conyers. The
51-year-old
lightweight has
been one of the
top
powerlifter
in his
weight
class -
perhaps even
the best - for
nearly 20
years, Talmant
said.
Three other Raw
Unity 2
competitors,
superheavyweights
Beau Moore and
Scott Weech Jr.
and
middleweight
Ryan Celli, are
also rated some
of the
country's top
athletes.
The meet also
more than
quadrupled its
ranks of
female
competitors
from last year,
up to nine from
two. A Tampa
resident,
Taylor
Stallings, won
the overall
women's
division.
The future
looks promising
for Raw Unity,
Talmant said.
The grassroots
effort to
expanding the
meet's reach
will continue,
he said.
"Last year,
many were
standing by to
see how it went
first before
committing
anything to
it," he said.
"This year, a
lot of the
lifters I
went after to
bring in
decided to
come. It
exceeded my
expectations."
"Once they pass
the word, it
really spreads
like wildfire,"
Talmant
added.
Eric Horchy can
be reached at
727-815-1071 or
ehorchy@suncoastnews.com
