World Kettlebell Sport

On Saturday 27th April Manchester Kettlebell Club hosted there very first Girevoy Sport Competition; The Girevoy Sport Union Manchester Kettlebell Open 2013.
Girevoy Sports Union (GSU) is a newly founded organisation of kettlebell sports coaches, clubs and athletes from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. their president is Anton Anasenko and vice president Mark Stapleton from ireland. Their mission is to inspire, teach and enable people to compete in Girevoy Sport with the sole purpose of increasing awareness and understanding of this amazing, competitive and exhilarating sport.
Manchester Kettlebell Club did not let anyone down in this respect. The team worked hard in organising what many have said was the best competition to date in the country.
What made this competition so good was the quality of athletes that were lifting. It was truly incredible. The numbers were as high as any competition gone before in the country, the skill level of each athlete was better than ever seen before. I believe you can put this down to the quality of coaching now developing in the country. Many of the top coaches and athletes in the UK and Ireland are now being coached themselves by top Russian coaches and lifters such as Anton Anasenko, Sergey Rudnev, and Aleksander Khovstov to name a few. So it can only get better for the sport over in future that some of the best lifters in the UK and Ireland, now have this opportunity to train and learn from the best of the best.
There were so many great performances and stand out moments from the competition. There were more ladies and men lifting heavier kettlebells than seen before in previous events. For instance there were 11 ladies lifting 16kg and 2 lifting 20kg. In the men’s competition there were 8 on 24kg, 5 on 28kg and 5 on 32kg. In total there were 70 athletes competing, many old faces and lots of new faces in their first ever competition. Let’s highlight the winners and some stand out results.
Ladies Absolute Champion on Biathlon was Laura White from Scottish Kettlebell Club. Laura was lifting 16kg in the 68kg+ category and managed 170 Jerk and 188 Snatch leaving her with a Absolute Total of 5728. If the event was in Co-Efficient the winner would have been Denise Holohan lifting 16kg in the 63kg category. Denise managed 144 Jerk and 170 Snatch leaving her with a Co-Efficient score of 83.04132231. Men’s Absolute Champion on Biathlon was Reece Armstrong. Reece was lifting 24kg in the 78kg category and managed 138 Jerk and 202 Snatch leaving him with an Absolute Total of 11472. Reece would also of been Co-Efficient Champion as well with a score 148.4087969.
Some further stand-out performances to take note of were that of Ray Wilson from Aberdeen Kettlebell Club lifting 32kg, and Abigail Johnston from Scottish Kettlebell Club lifting 20kg. Ray hit 83 Jerks and 81 Snatches on his way to an Absolute Score of 7904 and a Co-efficient of 96.15571776. Abigail as ever was amazing on hitting 202 reps on Snatch.
Highlight for the day, and the undoubted star of the day was Maksim Kolganov. A 12 year old Cossac Scot who showed great skill, heart and joy at being on the platform. Maksim was the first Junior to ever compete in a Girevoy Sport in the UK. A superb athlete and a lovely little lad. The joy on his proud father Vadims face was there for all to see. It was a great moment when Maksim came up to collect his winners medal, it literally brought the house down. If the electricity had gone, and we were surrounded by darkness, the little lads broad smile and joy would of lit the place up. It was a pleasure to watch this Junior Athlete. Almost certainly keep an eye on Maksim he has a bright future in the sport. The addition of the Men’s Jerk and Ladies Snatch Relay was a brilliant end to the day and really brought everyone together. At every competition the atmosphere starts to disappear towards the end of the day as everyone is so tired. But bringing the relay in really brought some excitement to the finale. It was a brilliant end to a great days lifting.
Girevoy Sport is growing year in and year out as the sport develops in the UK and Ireland and with GSU at the helm the future should be bright. With the support and help of our Russian friends we can’t fail. Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success.