Marty Farrell’s Road to MS Part 2
Thursday, November 22nd, 2007If you’ve been following the progress of the American Kettlebell Club you can’t help but get caught up in Marty Farrell, Team America Captain, and his attempts to make Master of Sport Rank. He has tried almost every chance he could get this entire year and even missed it by just 1 rep one time! If you are new to our Blog, check this out before going further…Marty Part 1
It’s no small thing to be called a Master of Sport. Besides Valery, there was only one other Master of Sport of Kettlebell Lifting in America and that was our other Team Captain, Catherine Imes! Well, actually there is another MS, but he just moved to the USA from Russia and we just met him in Miami. Prior to Miami the USA had just these two while America has been playing with kettlebells for over 5 years. Now things are getting serious! We had 3 new Master of Sport qualifiers in Miami, with one of them reaching Master of Sport World Class Rank! We also had a few other Americans get very close to MS! More to come on that in another Blog…
If you haven’t already heard, Marty is an official Master of Sport within the World Kettlebell Club by completing 153 reps total in the Biathlon - 70kg Division. He’s the first man to do so! I remember writing back in May that I had no doubt he would make it. Thanks Marty for continuing your training through the many obstacles you faced. For those that don’t know Marty that well, he did this while serving as a Captain in the Military. So he’s a double Captain serving the AKC as Team Captain, attending almost every Certification and Training Day, as well as serving our Country. He’s done things for this Club and Country that I’m not at liberty to discuss, but suffice it to say he deserves the honor of being the first American man to get Master status in Kettlebells. Congratulations my friend! All those things I said were meant to motivate you! 
These two videos will be discussed and admired for years to come. They will go down in World Kettlebell Club and American Kettlebell Club history!
We’re going to break these videos down further and talk with Marty about it all in another Blog, but you’ll notice he was not only working for his Master of Sport Rank, but he was competing on an International level. The Professional lifter next to him, Juris Laldons remembered Marty from Latvia. This is a good sign… This lifter was a weightclass heavier than Marty, but it was still a good matchup! Valery has always explained to Marty that he is a high level Amateur at this point, but I think this performance proves Marty is now a Professional.
Eric Liford, Editor
American Kettlebell Club