American Grand Prix weightlifting series... WITH PRIZE MONEY!

[glennpendlay]

MuscledriverUSA and Pendlay barbell are sponsoring a Grand Prix series of events, with cash prizes for the preliminary events and a minimum of $25,000 cash prizes for the final. We hope to be able to award far more than the minimum we have already guaranteed. Hopefully this will be good for American weightlifting. Details that are available at this time are found here...

http://www.muscledriverusa.com/MDUSA...rix_c_646.html

[elVarouza]

Wow Glenn this is absolutely incredible. $25,000? Holy crap!

You may start to see a lot of new weightlifters suddenly come out of the woodwork...

[glennpendlay]

That's what we are hoping. And, keep in mind that this is simply the minimum that is guaranteed, and is just for the final. There will also be significant cash prizes for the preliminary events. We hope to significantly boost that number when we go after other sponsors.

It is easy to bash American lifters and coaches, we want to do something constructive and I think this is a pretty constructive development. I have heard for years, and from many of the same people that are always bashing us, that the problem in the sport is that there is no money or fame for the top performers. I think that this is a good first step in the right direction.

[veryhrm]

Nice to see you're making things happen. You mention the first meet is in the SF bay area. Who's hosting ? what venue ? (i'm not likely to compete as i am fat and weak and can barely PC let alone do the actual lifts but i'll at least go watch. Maybe. )

i'm sure you'll prob address this once you get the site up and all but is this going to be kosher w/ USAW and amateurism and all ? (i don't know the status of that since i've only ever had to deal with another totally non-revenue type sport but, e.g., amateurism is still mentioned in the usaw bylaws for whatever reason).

[elVarouza]

i'm sure you'll prob address this once you get the site up and all but is this going to be kosher w/ USAW and amateurism and all ? (i don't know the status of that since i've only ever had to deal with another totally non-revenue type sport but, e.g., amateurism is still mentioned in the usaw bylaws for whatever reason).

I also wonder about this. I remember hearing that Paul Anderson was not allowed to compete in the Olympics, in '60 maybe, because he won money at some events. That was 51 years ago though. I'm certainly no Olympic hopeful, but I am curious.