Nabba Bay of Plenty, Whakatane, 20 August 2011

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