Photo: U.S. Army Reserve photo by Sgt. 1st Class Abel Aungst via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.
The all-vegan Vegan Strong PlantBuilt team has taken a huge 41 medals, 32 of them gold, at the Mr. America All American Sports Festival, which ran from October 6 to October 8 in Atlantic City, Visit Atlantic City announced.
The team competed in four sports this year, powerlifting, strongman, kettlebell and CrossFit, and team manager Giacomo Marchese says they more than doubled their wins from last year.
Captain Ryan Stills led the powerlifters, taking eight first places and the overall win in the 125kg category, Great Vegan Athletes reports. Stills also coaches Katya Gorbacheva, who won three times in the 75kg category.
Bradie Crandall, fresh from a win at the US nationals, switched to strongman for the weekend and won the middleweight class. He won the Ukrainian deadlift and the flag hoist and took second in the log ladder and the car press. Angelina Berva won the women's heavyweight strongman and Sophie Brock won the lightweight, while Ric Carroll took third at heavyweight on a recently repaired Achilles tendon.
The kettlebell team is new, and Sara Lee got it off to a winning start in the 20kg kettlebell marathon. In CrossFit, Ashley Kitchens and Sally Andersen won the women's Open Rx and George Matthews and Kody Kowalowski won the men's.
Marchese founded the team in 2012 with Dani Taylor. According to Viva!, the pair "envisioned a team of vegan bodybuilders not just competing alongside non-vegan athletes, but triumphing over them." Every athlete on the team eats a fully plant-based diet, and Marchese says this weekend made the point loud and clear:
Mr. America provided a great opportunity for us to prove that plants have all the protein you need to be strong and healthy and to fuel wins at the highest levels!
The best part? Other competitors wanted to know the secret. "We more than doubled our wins from last year," said Marchese, "and competitors asked how we were doing it."
The team's Mr. America haul last year was impressive enough, and Stills went on to win his fifth IPF world powerlifting title. Vegan strength has a long history on this site, from Patrik Baboumian to the strongman smashing vegan stereotypes back in 2016.
No meat, no problem.