Blueberry Beast competition new event at Marshall County Blueberry Festival

New to the Blueberry Festival this year is a powerlifting competition that has been named The Blueberry Beast. 

Several local weightlifters have discussed this type of competition for years, but planning and logistics have always presented issues with getting the competition started.  Over the past 8 months, Adam Baer, Burke Richeson, and MaKla Sanchez (Owner of FitStop in Plymouth and Rochester) have worked together to make this dream a reality. Adam, Burke, and MaKla have worked continuously over the past months to put this event together and organize a myriad of factors to make this event truly special.

“Every year I go with my family to several athletic events at the Blueberry.  I love to compete, but the events being offered are not events I really participate in all that much.  However, I have always enjoyed lifting weights, and I have always wanted to participate in a powerlifting competition.  So, I started asking around the gym and found there was a lot of interest in this type of competition, and we just started planning,” says Burke Richeson.

The competition will include three lifts.  Each competitor will have three attempts at each lift to execute the lift with the heaviest weight they can.  The three lifts are back squat, barbell bench press, and barbell deadlift.  Once the athlete has completed their lifts, their weights will be added to the Wilks Coefficient that will produce an overall number that factors in other aspects such as the athlete’s weight, age, and sex.  The top three male and female athletes will receive prize money and a trophy for placing first, second, or third.  There will also be recognition for the male and female that lifted the most weight in each lift, not accounting for any other factors.  The price for each athlete to sign up is $100.00.  For this price, the athlete will get to participate in the competition with a chance to win prizes; they will receive a swag bag with a t-shirt, a sweat towel, some refreshments, and a competitor’s medallion that they can hang in their home or office to show they competed in the Blueberry Beast.  They will also be granted access to the warm-up and refreshment area while they lift.

The event is going to be held within the skate park at Centennial Park on September 5-6.  There will be groups of 10-12 athletes lifting at a time, and the hope is to have each group finish all their lifts within 1 hour.  The event space will have a warm-up area for the athletes, a sitting area to relax, a small refreshments area, and a few fitting rooms.  The competition area will be separated from this warmup area to provide some privacy and focus for the athletes.  On the other half of the skate park, there will be space for vendor booths.  These vendors look to be focused on fitness and health-related businesses.  This will allow spectators to watch a great event and hopefully pick up some valuable information about fitness and service providers that can help them on their journey.

While the joy of competing with yourself and other athletes is worth the price, the joy of knowing where the proceeds of the event are to go is all the more satisfying.  All the proceeds for this event will go to our local Fire Buddies chapter and to support the other 215 Fire Buddies chapters throughout the county.  Fire Buddies is a firefighter-based charity that works with families that have a child who has been diagnosed with a terminal illness.  The local chapter adopts a family and walks with them through the entire process of dealing with the difficult situation.  Upon selection, the firefighters and their precinct roll out the red carpet with a full alarm and light parade to the family home and provide gifts to the entire family.  The team remains there through doctor’s visits, birthdays, Christmas, and even occasional trips to events for the adopted buddy.  The Fire Buddies chapter is there to help the family through the process, provide some services, and provide some joy and laughter in a very difficult time.  The bonds of this program have gone on for years, even after the unfortunate passing of the buddy.  Fire Buddies truly hopes to help a family in any way they can for so long as the family needs them to be there.

We are very excited about this event, both to compete and to benefit an amazing charity.  We have great contributions coming from FitStop in equipment and trophies.  We have amazing sponsors supporting our goal of putting on a great event in our first year.  We have volunteers helping with weights and judging each lift.  And most importantly, we have a charity we are all working to support and provide help to families in tremendous need.

If you would like to sign up and participate in the event, you must do so right away because spots are limited.  Go to Blueberry Beast – Lifting Competition on Facebook, and you will find the link to the registration form. You can also email us at Blueberrybeastfest@gmail.com with questions, and we can send you the sign-up link.  We are also always in need of sponsors.  You can sponsor this event with any donation, and we will be very grateful.  We also have Champion ($1,500.00), Power Set ($1,000.00), and Warm-up ($500.00) sponsor spots available.  Each of those spots comes with added recognition throughout the event.  If you wish to be an event sponsor, please reach out to us at our email address, and we will get the needed information out to you right away.