Weightlifting Competition 2

This is my second "local" weightlifting competition, and although I have been really under the weather this week, I was glad I came out for it. Once again, the event was held this morning at the Joe Bar Market area, and sponsored by Mr. Big, the former Mr. Liberia, whose gym is just down the Old Road from Joe Bar Market Junction.

Same as last time, it was just a bench press competition, using "African weights" (really old machine gears) so the amounts involved were a little approximate (the guys would call out the weights in "African pounds", as in "175 African pounds." To get real weights from overseas is difficult and expensive, and there isn't a lot of money to be made out of starting up a gym.

However, there's no question that these guys are strong! Even using their conservative estimates for the weights, the champions were lifting 2-3 times their own body weight off the bench. Pretty incredible!

All-County Championship, SKD Stadium

Having a colleague here who is interested in football has definitely made for a fun week. I am not a big sports fan, but I do love attending live sporting events, especially in stadia. Liberia's all-county final match was an excellent opportunity to finally be inside the Samuel K. Doe Sports Complex, which is giant.

Getting in was fairly chaotic, almost scary (I couldn't help but think of stampedes crushing people in Liverpool, etc). And sitting on the concrete for several hours was a literal pain in the ass. It was pretty fun otherwise, and the crowd was friendly. The National Judo Team was also in attendance. Final Score: Nimba County 1, Grand Gedeh, Zero. There was a massive traffic jam afterwards.

Football at Spriggs Payne/Fish Market

I've written before about the great little public space at the end of the Spriggs-Payne runway, which is usually packed with people playing football.

Apparently, no action has taken place on Spriggs Payne's attempts to remove these people, and the place remains one of the few public recreation grounds in the city, albeit in flaunt of the law, to a certain extent.

My friend Paul Jones, who runs the fantastic Keta Sandlanders in Ghana, is in town, and so when we drove by here earlier and he spotted the action, he proposed coming back and being a spectator. We went this afternoon hung out for a while, watching some of the matches. It was pretty dry and dusty, but it was a great afternoon, and the football was pretty exciting.

Football Grounds at Spriggs Payne/Fish Market

This week, I read in the paper about the Airport Authority's effort to remove the squatters from the area and reclaim the land as their property. The next time I drove by, I saw this banner, stating roughly the same.

Its a difficult, complex situation. On the one hand, the Airport is right. Its their property, and it is really important to re-establish property rights as part of a proper, rule-of-law environment.

On the other hand, this dusty little spot is one of the few public recreation spots in the whole city, and it is very prominently situated along the main road into town (it is even mentioned in a New York Times article about Hilary Clinton's visit). I just wish that the place could remain as it is (and by that I mean have a significant investment to make it a true public park), rather than reverting to the domain of the airport authority, where it will likely not be as publicly used as it is in its current state.

Flag Day Weightlifting Competition

I was invited to a weightlifting competition today in Joe Bar market, on the Old Road section of Sinkor. Its a holiday here (flag day) so the gas station was simply taken over, and some guys brought out the equipment from a nearby gym, run by Mr. Big (the large guy in the brown and yellow striped jersey) who is a former Mr. Liberia. He seemed to be the main organizer of the event.

As you can see, there were a lot of people there. It was sort of nice to see all the kids, as I like to think of weightlifting as a healthy way to encourage young people to care about themselves and their health.

As the only non-Liberian present, I was something of a celebrity, and curiosity, and sponsor, and announcer...