One-hundred thirty lifters will participate in the 27th annual Sertoma Sunrise Warrior Liftathon fundraiser March 7-8 at 3:30 p.m. both days in the Brainerd High School strength room.
Participants include 110 boys and 20 girls from the Brainerd school district in grades 8-12. There are 11 fundraising teams with 11-12 lifters per team.
Each team includes at least one female and one junior high lifter. Teams are captained by Sertoma Sunrise Club members, who will seek pledges from the community on behalf of their team.
The Liftathon raises funds for charitable organizations and those in need in the Brainerd area, and also raises funds for improvements in school district weight rooms.
Participants may also compete for T-shirts based upon MPPO guidelines. MPPO is a measure of a lifter's overall strength in relation to body size. The lifter's one-repetition maximum effort in each lift is added together, and then divided by the person's body weight to determine MPPO. Lifts include bench press, power clean and parallel squat.
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T-shirts are awarded for MPPO performance level. The boys' standard is 4.00 or greater for lifters with a body weight less than 250 pounds, 3.50 for lifters with a body weight of 250 pounds or more. The girls' standard is 2.75 or greater. T-shirts are also awarded to lifters who have participated in the Liftathon a minimum of three years.
Stephen G. Nunnink MPPO scholarships are awarded to the top male and female lifter based upon MPPO performance. Brandon Justin and Adam Kleist, male winners in 2015 and 2016, both return this year to defend their titles. Ellen Hickman, the female winner in 2016, also returns to defend her title.
Nunnink initiated the MPPO concept when he founded the Brainerd strength program in 1975.
The Warrior Wall is a display area next to the high school weight room that recognizes the top 10 all-time MPPO in each grade, and the top 10 overall bench press, power clean and parallel squat performances for the boys and girls since the Liftathon began in 1991.
The 2-day event will be judged by current Brainerd coaching staff, Brainerd area law enforcement officers, community members and former Liftathon participants.
The event is free and open to the public.
