ANB Asia Pacific Pics, Vids and Report, 30 May 09

Click pic for Pics, Videos and Reports of the ANB Asia Pacific Champs.

Videos

right: and finally, Ali's Overall Figure Win Video!

High energy routine and bikini rounds from Sexy Sportsmodels	Ali G Grabs GrandMaster Figure Compulsory and Routines	Kiwis @ ANB Videos part 1 Watch rest of kiwi team

Pics and Review; Kiwi perspective of the ANB

Lisa with some of kiwi team
Ali, Jacqui, Julie, Donette

By now you've read the results and seen the pics from the show but I haven't talked about the actual show itself, so I thought I'd better do so as it was a very impressive one.

Right from the word go when the President, Rob Powell, addressed the athletes at the briefing you could feel that both he and the organisation - ANB - really believed in team spirit. He spoke to the athletes rather than at them and encouraged everyone to support each other and make each person feel proud of their achievement by just being there. Sure, he touched on some protocol of the show but the main focus of the briefing was of comraderie which I found refreshing.

There was around 107 athletes. 66 women and 41 men. The show began at 10.45 and finished by 2.30pm. The evening show felt long - then again most evening shows are long! but this was all over by 10.30pm. I thought for the number of athletes involved the judges were very efficient in their judging and didn't do too many comparisons. There was minor difference in judging order ie doing their compulsory poses first and then structural but their poses are the same as other organisations.

Ali, Overall Fig, with ANB Qld organiser Steve Jones

Continuing with the personal approach by the President, Rob would tell athletes on stage where to stand, to stay on their mark and generally gave them support as they stood on stage. I thought this was a great idea as many of the athletes are nervous and some not sure what to do or where to face. He didn't actually give them posing tips as such but just to reassure them to get their head up and to stand in the best light.

The compere, Rob Zemicki, also showed huge enthusiasm and gave encoragement to the athletes ...and also revving up the audience to show support for those on stage.

The classes are much the same as you get in NZ with the exception of a very interesting sportsmodel class. In this class the girls do a dance routine and a model walk in a bikini. There's no actual posing like bodybuilders so as the 19 girls did their routine, all sorts of eye opening styles were presented to us from a choreographed dance routine, boxing, step routine, lots of dress ups (loved cat woman) to more risque stripper type gyrations. At the night show the audience appreciated seeing all the girls on stage in their bikinis and it made this class fun to watch. Eventually this class was won by Claudine Newton who had a fit looking body and a routine which showed off her body without being over the top about it.

	above: catwoman left: Claudine, 1st sportsmodel.	One of many high energy routines

ANB do random drug testing and all through prejudging you hear athletes being called to the Drug Testing desk. Generally you could tell this was a natural show as we didn't see any freaky hard or super vascular physiques here that perhaps you might see at non tested shows.

The physique girls weren't too big or hard but the overall physique winner Leanne Palmer was gorgeous. She had beautiful symmetry and nice full defined muscles. In the figure class the girls weren't too hard, however in the masters classes they did get more defined mostly due to their muscle maturity. Our kiwi girl Ali Gascoine took out the Grandmaster and Overall Figure with her naturally hard figure.

You didn't get any freaky looking guys in the men's classes, generally they looked defined and athletic. What was freaky was the Jnr and Overall Men's winner, 22 year old Luke Belcher. He is the spitting image of Arnold.

Watch! Go Figure's Youtube video of Aussie Arnold Lookalike 22 year old Luke Belcher below

At the finals, no athlete went home empty handed. For athletes who didn't place they'd get a medallion to remember the event by and a goodie bag with some sponsors product. The winners however, got some impressive statues while the placegetters would also get trophies. The overall winners also got a cash prize. Below left: Overall Trophies. Right; First place trophies

In summary, the ANB presented a very professional and yet personal show which focused on the athlete. The event was fun, efficient and promoted the values of natural bodybuilding competition. I'm considering to go back over to check out the Nationals in October. Will keep you posted! Thanks to Steve Jones, ANB contest organiser for letting me take Happy Snaps to share with the kiwi viewers. Lisa Menzies Go Figure 5 June 09

Lisa's Happy Snaps!


Got a great spot in the photographers' pit. Me with Steve Jones, ANB Qld and contest organiser who was super cool and helpful. Then Ra popped into cheer the kiwi girls on too.

The team waiting at briefing. Tracey and Julie. Kiwis in exile Bevan McDonald and Scott Reynolds. Scott was ANB Overall National Champ in 08.

Above: me with Obi, the world's most ripped fitness model. Right: Ali with her Overall Trophy

Grandmaster Figure

	Donna Bailey 2nd, Ali 1st


Above:Cathy's Sen Fig class Right: Cathy and Jacquie Below: Jacquie's Tall Fig class




	Sports Model Class Above: Niki Taylor Right: Donnette in routine
Women's Physique u52kg

Above: Julie, Winner, Denise Below: Tracy in o52kg
		Left: Sheryl Masters Physique

Battle for Overall Figure



	Hooray she did it! Ali takes overall title

Overall Physique Women, Man and Sportsmodel


Leanne Palmer and Luke Belcher were Overall physique winners. Luke's the spitting image for young Arnie, even how he poses! Sportsmodel winner on right, Claudine Newton, won from 19 contestants.

The Results! The big news is that Ali Gascoine won her grandmaster figure class beating her main rival Donna Bailey and then going on to take out the Overall Figure Title. During the night the judges seemed to favour a smoother figure conditioning which made us (and Ali) thought that Ali might've come in too lean and she wouldn't have a chance of winning her class. But thankfully the judges liked Ali's look. She didn't even pump up for her class or overall as her veins were already popping out and she didn't want to look too much like physique. Ali was overwhelmed and ecstatic with her win, especially since it was over her main competition. But she' ready for their next battle at the ANB Nationals in Oct where she'll be up against her again.

Forgot to mention yesterday how gorgeous Julie Harris looked in the physique class. She really glammed it up wearing a hairpiece and also some bling. She looked vascular and lean but placed 2nd to eventually overall winner Leanne Palmer who had beautiful symmetry and had a great routine to 'Leave your hat on'. Denise McKenna has made big improvements since I last saw her too, looks like she's got more muscle and has been working on getting more detail on her physique. She placed 4th in the same class as Julie. Tracey Frost placed 2nd in the o55kg class, the winner was slightly leaner overall.

We thought Sheryl Summers was unfairly placed at 5th in the Masters physique as she had a great balanced body. All the time she was up on stage she just beamed and enjoyed her time up there which was good to see. I think the big surprise was the placing of Jacquie Pederson at 3rd. This was a huge class of 12 and we were sure she'd be top 6, but getting 3rd in a competitive lineup of super glamourous aussie girls was the icing on the cake. Cathy Orevich was up agains some hard conditioned figures in the Masters figure and placed 4th. She loved the stage and had a funky routine.

Our supermodels Niki Taylor and Donnette Healey were up against 17 young aussie babes and they received medallions for their efforts. I thought this Sportsmodel class was pretty exciting, especially the way they ran the bikini class. They all came separate doing their model walks and turns across the stage and then at the end they all followed each other around the stage. Hard to describe, I videoed it so will put that up on site in due course for you to see.

Lisa, Go Figure
31 May 09

ANB Asia Pacific Pics, Vids and Report, 30 May 09

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