For the 2007 French IPF National Benchpress Meet, the St Junien Club (near Limoges) displayed a thorough concern for details. On would have to be a fan of hair-splitting to find faults in the overall organisation, for in a sports without means there must have been a ever-pouring well of good-will to lead such a project to its end. For once, benchers did not have to warm-up between pulleys and mecanical stairs, but in a very large room where four benches had been set for that purpose, with enough space for coaches, photographers and curious people to attend. The competition soundtrack was everything but ridiculous. Following the competition progression was made very easy thanks both to the immediate printing of match sheets and to a wide-angle screen showing competition excel spreadsheets being filled-in in real time, easily visible provided you were not sitting on terraces.

For there lies the only aspect toning it down (and we refer to it to help improving things only); the too wide distance parting benchers from the audience which made following the competition sometimes a difficult affair (especillay when trying to understand the type of error detected), and the widescreen broadcasting the event for that purpose was often hidden by the staff.

Hardly seen among benchers was Clara Kasbarian (world champion) and her father, more discreet still. They had come to coach the unbelievable Soumbounou Boubacar who, being Malian, was pressing as guest only.

Security bars set on benches have been greatly approved by all, and actually saved a few skulls from severe injuries.

Click here to get all compétition statistics.

Leila Duhem represented the -90kg class, and pressed a very nice 130kg bar, which must make the mind of many would-be powerlifters boggle (best women bar of the competition).

In accordance with Stéphane Hatot (on the right- one of the founding fathers of modern french benchpress), she entrusted the webmaster of Club150kg with the keeping of powerlifting records for the North-East zone of france. A request readily accepeted.

Béranger Addenet came out first in -60kg class, followed by Grégory Pulido and Mostapha Redouani.

Among the -67,5kg class benchers, Eric Daoud came out first, followed by Julien Mousnier and Bernard Vincent. Claude Sitruk (a specialist of that weight-category) reported sick, apparently because of an injury.

Alphonse Cucuzzella came out first in -75kg class, followed by Fabrice Bertin and Da Costa Adriano.

In the -82,5kg class, Cyril Pinguet came out first, followed by Gemel Boughamdouz and Didier Compain. An impressive 222,5kg bar for Cyril Pinguet which made him beat his own France record.

Vincent Encinas came out first in -90kg class, followed by Jean Dubois and the very funny Patrick Le Bleveneck.

Patrick played his part of official clown, climbing onto the stage for his first attempt with such a broad smile that we were all already laughing along. After having pressed his first bar he came back laughing because he had thought about another joke to tell to his peers. After having told him one of mines, he immediately went to tell it to the referees !

Patrick, also known as Mr. 0% Pressure.

In -100kg class, Stéphane Herrgott came out first, followed by Frédéric Beyon et and Philippe Szezepanski. The absence of Herbert Brice lead to much talking ; has he gone to another federation ? are there other reasons ? the question is for the moment left unanswered.

In -110kg class, Pascal Carrere from Bordeaux came out first, and was awarded the title of best athlete of the whole competition according to wilks ranking (a rare thing for a semi-heavy bencher) because he pressed an incredible 247,5kg, followed by Philippe Biloir and Alban Le Tallec. We had very impressive bars in that category ! They made a great show and had us live a very interesting fight.

Greetings to Alban who nicely sent me some of his photos and spread his good mood around him.

The -125kg podium with Michel Dufour as champion, followed by the ever famous webmaster of Benchpresschampion.com, i.e Pascal Girard. Pascal, remaining true to himself, spend most of his time taking photos of benchers so as to enhance his already huge database on french benchers (and saying that he would certainly be obliged to buy an extra amount of hard-disk storage on his domain provider).

In third position was Hervé Gainche, moved to the utmost to climb onto the podium. Having heard him dedicate his performance, I wish to express my personal emotion and support for the predicament he finds himself in for the moment.

This is the "heavies" podium (with 434kg on it !); they were told not to jump on it, so as to keep the gear in working order. Jean-Yves Minelle from Mourmelon played his usual showman part, both on the stage as well as during warmup, singing oldies songs aloud, while others were trying to concentrate. Sebastien Brunel from Soissons eventually realised that he was France champion in senior category. Igor Davidoff from Satory once again showed that he belongs to this category of benchers who are extremely open-minded. The webmaster who met him will keep a very good memory of this meeting. A podium of very heavy bars, very heavy men, and very big hearts, yet, 0% show-off. Congratulations to you all for such a good spirit..

The great example provided by Danneels Emmanuel shall not be forgotten, for he is leading not only a fight against bars but also another one against illness and adversity. May he know that he impressed us all at the club and won our greatest respect.