ON Saturday last, the GAPLF hosted a Bench Press competition at 704 Sky Lounge. Present to manage this event were, 1 emcee, 1 volunteer scorer, 3 judges and 3 spotter/loaders.

While the federation has a chief scorer, the said individual is more often than not unavailable for these events.

Alternatively, the more regular championship secretary, who also undertakes scoring duties was absent due to pressing family issues.
Due to these absences, there was some mix-up when it came to scoring and some individuals were disgruntled, thus the GAPLF subsequently revised the scoring and corrected the anomalies.

Participants’ entry into a light, medium and heavyweight categories for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winner determinant; this condition was changed to a general 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winner determinant on wilks due to the limited number of lifters who had registered for the event.

There was relaxed ruling on the traditional powerlifting commands for the bench press; no change was made to this condition. During registration, and immediately before the competition started, ALL participants were reminded of the rules that would govern the event.

Accordingly, at the end of the competition, 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners were derived as submitted by the volunteer scorer and announced by the emcee.
Martin Pertab – 1st Place
John Edwards – 2nd Place
Colin Chesney – 3rd Place

In light of there being a question mark about the 1st place winner, arrangements were made after the event for the submitted results to be verified by the more competent championship secretary (who was absent).
Upon verification by the championship secretary, the following results were submitted for necessary remedial action (prize allocations).
Rudolph Blackman – 1st Place
John Edwards – 2nd Place
Martin Pertab – 3rd Place

All affected parties were contacted by the championship secretary, assuring that the necessary remedial actions would ensue at the beginning of the upcoming business week.
On Monday, (April 23), Mr. Blackman and team were contacted, the error explained and his 1st place prize allocation for the event was confirmed. The federation finalised logistics for Mr. Blackman’s prize for subsequent handing over, which was done on Thursday.
In a statement, the federation stated: “GAPLF wishes to clarify for all involved, the outcome of our Bench Press event. The GAPLF also thanks the lifters who participated for their efforts and patience, and anticipates their continued eagerness to participate in future events.”