Georgia came in to the backyard of North and South Carolina, challenged both states for the Battle on the Border title and actually WON it!  Congratulations!  This year, we had 110 lifters from the States of Georgia, Kentucky, North and South Carolina as well as 20 additional entry forms that were not able to make it to the roster. 

First of all, I would like to thank all of the volunteers that make the Battle on the Border possible.  It is really a Herculean task to find the number of people it takes to make an event of this size happen.  Our spotters and loaders were fantastic and continue to be the best crew in the country.  No one was injured and the meet moved very quickly and efficiently.   The judging was fair and consistent and many State and National records were broken.

Our sponsors:  Anderson Powerlifting,  Quest Nutrition and West Cary Barbell were all once again extremely generous in their donations.  Over the years, we have always been able to provide all of our Best Lifter award winners with certificates and equipment in addition to their trophies.  The Upper Palmetto YMCA is a fantastic venue to hold a competition and Rochelle and the other YMCA staff were incredibly friendly and accommodating. 

I would also like to thank John Demchak, Jennifer and Donovan Thompson, as well as Tom Simon who once again allowed us to utilize their equipment for the meet. 

Finally, I would like to thank all of the lifters who came out to compete at our meet.  The Battle on the Border has continued to grow and develop into one of the best run and exciting meets in the country.  The atmosphere and the quality of lifting rivals that of many National meets.

Due to the high number of lifters that were registered for the Battle, we made a decision to split the registration and weigh-in process into two different sessions.  This allowed us to cut down on the time needed to get things going and start on time.  It also allowed for the Bench Specialists to come to the event later in the day and not have to wait around as long to lift.   In hindsight, this did make our day more efficient and allow us to finish the day sooner, however we also recognize that the second group did not receive a rules briefing and some lifters felt isolated from the rest of the meet.  With this said, we will reevaluate and strongly consider returning to the old format.

The results of the meet are up and ready to view.  I hope to have the gallery and Top 10 lists completed by the end of the day.  If anyone has additional pictures that were taken from the meet, please send them to me via email and I will get them up on the site.