Foley's Bryson takes home national weightlifting title

Baldwin athlete setting sites for World Championships

GCM Sports
Posted 6/26/19

FOLEY - After competing in his first-ever bench press competition at age 79, Dr. Len Bryson of Foley has won both the state and national Southern Powerlifting Federation championships and has …

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Foley's Bryson takes home national weightlifting title

Baldwin athlete setting sites for World Championships

Posted

FOLEY - After competing in his first-ever bench press competition at age 79, Dr. Len Bryson of Foley has won both the state and national Southern Powerlifting Federation championships and has qualified to compete in the Southern Powerlifing Federation’s World Championships, which will be held in September in Atlanta.

Bryson served as chairman of sports management and associate academic dean at the U.S Sports Academy in Daphne during the 1990-92 academic years. He managed a fitness center in Fairhope for three years and concluded his career as recreation director for the city of Foley before retiring in 2007.

“I have been a recreational lifter for fitness most of my adult life and only thought about competing in recent years,” Bryson said.

His first training procedure five years ago resulted with an injury that required healing time. He began his recent training eight months ago setting goals for each competition.

At the Alabama Southern Powerlifting Federation championships, held in Huntsville in mid-February, Bryson took home first place honors in bench press for the 75-79 age group and 148-pound weight class.

He qualified for the SPF National Championships June 15 in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, where he walked away with top honors for the same age division and weight class.

Because of an upcoming birthday, Bryson will compete in the 80- to 84-year-old age division at the World Championships.

“I am most excited about the fact that I acquired each of my goals and look forward to achieving my new goal for the World Championships,” Bryson said.

Entries from more than 12 countries have already been received for the SPF World Championships.