The event itself, which was held at the North Harbour Stadium function center, was run with military like precision. The prejudging began at close to the 10am advertised time and was finished by 12.15! this must go down in the record books as the fastest prejudging ever for the Nationals. While it was great the show ran so fast, it would've been nice to see some of the classes on stage a little longer as it seemed the athletes only had a few minutes on stage and didn't get a change to get in to their poses properly. Other than that President Moe Moussawi and his team of committee members, marshalls and tanners did a great job to set up the venue with special staging and lighting, and a video camera that streamed live footage of the athletes prejudging on to a big screen behind them and to a tv backstage. There was plenty of space backstage for the athletes to pump up which contributed to the easy atmosphere.
Usually the figure girls would outnumber physique ladies so it was nice to see the tables turned with the large number of physiques lined up in this show. We saw seasoned athletes Tarren McCall (who took out the Masters 45+ and Overall Title) come in great condition but she did have to work hard against Carolyn Mailo and Jan Dixon to win both her classes - Masters 45 and Open o55kg. Erena Young just edged out Tara Wright in the Novice u55kg. Teneka Hyndman as always was in great condition. She was too hard to take out the Open International Figure but was just right to take out the physique o55kg class but faced Tarren's ultra hardened physique in the overall.
There was a bevvy of babes in the bikini class which was won by Jessyka Benhoom, Anita 2nd and Fabiany 3rd. The International Figure class seemed to be the popular choice at the Nationals with most of the girls competing in this class. We saw beautiful figures Nuria Novoa, Nury Kusamawati, Johanna Mountfort, and Simone Jardem via for the Novice International Figure Title. All had their features but it was Nuria with her nice round muscle and symmetry that won her the title and also the Overall Title. Sheryl Webb took out the Bodyfitness Tall Novice class. In the International Figure Open we saw beautiful Claire Torr who's softer figure beating the lean figures of Teneka, Roma and Louise.
We saw some nice hard figures turn out for the ‘traditional' figure which is now called bodyfitness. Paula Signal's great condition beat out Kirtana Clark and ?. Blossom Cameron is blossoming in her new figure but a shame she was the only one in her senior figure 45 class. In the Open Fitness Short class we saw the well conditioned Jamie Onekawa edging out Louise Siniah-Burr while Michelle Dixon's hard figure beat out Sheryl and Kiriana in the Open Bodyfitness class. In the end it was Jamie's full lean figure and symmetry that took out the overall over Michelle and Paula.
Women's Overalls
Physique: ?, Teneka, Tarren, Erena
BodyFitness: Jamie, Michelle, Paula
Internatinoal Figure: Claire, Nuria, Sheryl
There was some great contests in the men's classes. Some of the stand out athletes were Jhoon Law's symmetry and cuts to take the Junior title. Peter Hunt's outstanding condition winning the Masters 50+, Teina O'Malley's nice symmetry and mass taking out the Novice 60-70kg class, the tight contest between Matt Clark 1st and Lance Te Kiri for the Novice 80-90kg class and Byron Peach's massive and lean physique winning the Novice o90kg.
The Open Men's classes provided some tough calls for the judges. So much so, most of the Opens had to be rejudged at night but we're sure the audience didn't mind being treated to some great bodies. In the Open 60-70kg Daniel Hibbs body was ripped like Adonis - but better!. Every muscle, every striation was seen everywhere and we mean everywhere including his trademark ripped glutes to take out the class over much improved condition of Steve Papps.
The Open 70-80kg was harder to judge with Supry Sos, Kenneth Clayton and Kurt Von ? all in great condition. All had great symmetry and mass but it might've just come down to who was the best poser and was able to squeeze every ounce of their muscle out to win ...and it might've Supry's stage experience that got him through. Althought Kurt missed out on tis class he did win the Classic Men's class.
If that class was hard. The next to come was Open 80-85kg boys featuring John Dearaza, Sanjeev Narayan, Johnny and Richard Hughes. The main battle was between John D and Sanjeev as both of these guys were in similar condition and hardness. Once again though it was Sanjeev's symmetry that nudged him ahead of John. Was a great class to watch!
The night show was also a well run event which was compered by the comedic duo of brothers Dallas and Daniel Hibbs for the first half of the show. Dallas had a relaxed way about him and kept the audience entertained throughout the night. Hopefully we've inspired him to get in shape to perhaps compete at one of next year's shows!
Some of the highlights of the night show was firstly the surprise guest posing by Moe and Grant Peterse. They were quite the comic duo going through their poses on stage as Daniel called the various poses out. Interesting how well both of them can do the bikini and figure poses! Think the crowd appreciated seeing this funny side of them. I know I did.
After that, we saw Moe handing Darryn Onekawa his Pro Card, a dream come true for Darryn. Darryn, who won last year's National Overall Title, was humble in his acceptance and appreciative of the card bestowed on him. We look forward to bigger things from Darryn - how scary is that thought.
Men's Overalls
Robert, Supry, Peter, Teina,
Byron, Sanjeev, Daniel, Bevan
Supry, Sanjeev, Daniel
The highlight was the great battle for the Overall Men's Title which we saw 11 hot bodies vying for a space on the limited stage. At some points, it was getting quite heated but eventually the guys calmed down to go through their compulsories. The first call out saw Byron Peach, Supry Sos, Peter Hunt, Sanjeev Narayan, Daniel Hibbs, Teina O'Malley and Bevan McKenzie trying to outmuscle each other. Featuring in 2 further callouts were Sanjeev and Daniel, with Supry called out for the final posedown. All 3 had nice symmetry and mass, but once again Daniel's super condition edged him over the line to take out the fantastic battle for the Overalls.
Daniel's now off to compete in the Men's Worlds in 2 weeks. We wish him all the best and we know he'll do New Zealand proud!
All in all it was a great day. Well run and efficient for the athletes and enjoyable for the audience. Thanks to NZIFBB for letting Go Figure share the experience with our viewers!
Lisa, Go Figure
18 October 10
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