IronDawgs members shatter world records in Buford meet

BUFORD -- It was an individual and not a team competition, and the Georgia IronDawgs sent only two competitors to the Southern Powerlifting Federation Georgia State Championships at the BodyPlex Gym in Buford Saturday, but team members Joey Murphy of Mt. Airy and R. Garry Glenn of Oakwood made the most of it by taking state titles and eclipsing their own world records in the process. The meet attracted dozens of lifters from Georgia and surrounding states.

Lifting in the Master's Men's 40-44-year-old, 259-pound, single-ply (equipped) class, Murphy, a Habersham Central graduate, broke not only his age/weight group world record, but wound up bettering the Men's Open Division World mark as well with an amazing bench of 700 pounds on a fourth lift (granted since he was trying to better the world mark). He actually shattered his old Master's record of 585 with his opening lift of 640 pounds. He got 670 on a third lift after missing it on his second try. The 700 pounds. was the heaviest bench press of the day. The Open record was 660 pounds.

"No pun intended, it's like a great weight is off my shoulders," a relieved Murphy said after finally reaching the 700 pound mark he's been wanting for some time. "I missed it the first five times I tried it in competition. To nail it today it's (almost) indescribable. It's like basketball, football players winning a championship. It feels really good. All that hard work's paid off."

Nevertheless, Murphy says in the bench press, you can't afford to rest on your laurels, "If you ever get satisfied in this sport, you might as well stop." He says he'd like to add at least another 25-50 pounds to his bench by this time next year.

The 58-year-old Glenn, lifting in the MM 55-59-year-old, 198-pound, raw (unequipped) class, went 300 and 320 before setting the new SPF world mark at 335, which broke the record by five pounds.

For Glenn, it was his third state bench title in as many different affiliations this year, having won the American Powerlifting Committee championship in June and the USA Powerlifting affiliated George Games Championship just three weeks ago. He also had an APC National Title in June.

"I felt really good today. This is the most I've ever done raw in a meet in this weight class," a delighted Glenn said. "It was especially good to lock out a third lift after coming close to the weight I wanted to do in my earlier meets this year. I finally did it today. Praise the Lord! Of course, bumping the World Record is especially nice. Joey and I both want to give special thanks to Jimmy Maness who handed out to us today. A bad hand-off can really mess you up. Jimmy was smooth and prefect. State championships and world records-Joey and I had a great day for the IronDawgs."

"That's batting 1,000 and then some," Murphy noted.

"Maybe we were inspired by the Olympics," Glenn added with a smile.

Both Glenn and Murphy plan to lift at the APC sanctioned America's Cup event in October in Athens. Murphy also says he plans to attend the World Association of Benchers and Deadlifters (WABDL) World Meet in Las Vegas in November; while Glenn says he'd like to travel to the Global Powerlifting Alliance (GPA) World's in Argentina at the end of that month.

"That's a raw event and I've been working on my raw bench a good bit. If we can work out the finances, I'd love it," Glenn said. "We're looking at some sponsorships and fundraisers, so maybe we can make it happen. I hope so."

http://accesswdun.com/article/2012/7/251222