Report!
Just when we thought Marty Niao, NABBA BOP
contest organiser, couldn't improve any more on what was
a fantastic show last year, he's gone and outdone himself again
this year! We know that Marty and his team of helpers and
backstage marshalls run a pretty tight ship and this year they've
had to be even more efficient as they've had a record number of 77
athletes to get through. This awesome number hadn't been seen
at regional since a record number of 84 entered the Taupo
contest in the early 90s.
The contest attracted alot of women throughout the novice and
open classes. One of the surpises was the entry of
seasoned open physique competitor Kaye O'Neill who wowed us with
her heavily muscled and incredibly hard physique. We also saw
the return of Rose Aoake (Hyde) in the very competitive class of 5
Shape girls. |
Marty with some of prizes
Kaye and Lisa |
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The judges had alot of tough calls to make in the various
classes. Neisha, Sarah, Davina in the tall
class were in top shape and posed well in the novice figure
tall. Another good contest was for the Senior Figure 45 class
between Lyn, Christine and Julie. Once again all this class was in
awesome condition. Vanessa Bartley in the Senior Figure 35
returned to stage since the 2010 Nationals with a much improved and
leaner figure to take all that class. The Senior Physiques
also brought their A game with all of them revealing some very lean
physiques. Gill McCann, although took second in the 45 class,
was probably the best we've seen her. Tina Walker looked
shaper in this show than we've seen her for a while. The huge
line up of 6 in the Novice Physique class showed us there are some
potential athletes coming through too. Tara Jones took out
the Novices with her symmetry and slightly harder appearance but
she was pushed by the 2nd and 3rd place getters who we are not sure
the names of.
Janine Haywood continued her winning run with her well conditioned
figure. It was great to see Elaine and Suzanne in the Open
too and would be great to see some more of the novices step up to
the open from this show as they are definitely worthy. The
Open Physique Women was a great watch, not only for seeing Kaye
step on stage but for seeing the improvements Moira Lavender
Ashburn had made in her upper body and Juie Kingi's physique
changing with each show. The crowd loved seeing these muscled
girls on stage and it was a shame the judges only asked them to
have one set of compulsory poses whereas the other classes had alot
of comparisons.
As you can see by the pics, this was pretty much a 'girlie'
show. But there were a few standout male physiques. Ray
in the Junior class showed great symmetry and condition, we hope he
stays in the sport for sometime and develop his physique.
Winner of the Novice Athletic Class Fabian also displayed a lean
physique. Showing that age is no barrier to improvement, Gary
Fowell a much more heavily muscled physique to take out the Masters
40 class. Some of the best battles were in the Open Athletic
class between Paul Mountfort and Jason Bartley. These guys
matched each other in most poses but perhaps what separated them
was the extra mass and definition Jason had in his legs. The
other match up was between the tall physique of Thomas Brennan and
nuggety structure of Rota Elliot. Thomas looked full and lean
and had a great side chest comparable to the classic 'Arnold' side
chest. Rota wasn't quite as lean as we'd seen him in previous
shows so Thomas with his all round definition took the Open class
and eventually the Overall Title.
All in all it was a fantastic show and thanks to Marty for giving
everyone, from the audience to the athletes, a great well run and
entertaining experience. Oh and the lights were fantastic
this year too :)!
Lisa, Go Figure
23 August 2011
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