Results! Bendigo Country Classic, August 09

		Above: Mark Anderson Open Men winner Left and Below: Masters. Tom Wojcik #17
	Men's Qualifer, Dylan #23

2009 Country Classic Invitational


Women's Novice Figure
1.Lisa Phillips
2.Brenda Milne
3.Danielle Harrop

Men's Novice
1.Mark Grech
2.Andam Van Spange
3.Nicholas Fearon
Also competed Simon Karajas, Jordan Hare-Brown, Eddie MacGregor

Men's Masters
1.Robert Reed
2.Matt Nicholson
3.Wayne Wilson
Also competed Nigel Engel, Paul Stephens, Peter Gringel, Blair Loveday, Tony Haranas, Tom Wojcik & Michael Gregoriou

Women's Open Figure
1.Dianne Hunt
2.Mandie Ritchie
3.Clare Ross
Also competed Michelle Witomski & Hayley Bertram

Men's Open Qualifier
1.Ian Walles
2.Mick Dittman
3.Dylan Stephens
Also competed Rick Brennan

Men's Open
1.Mark Anderson
2.Jason Bednarz
3.Mike Nysten
4.John Agyei
5.Eddy Tannorji

Iron Mike Memorial Award : Matt Nicholson

Open - Must have Open State title or better. Masters, Juniors, Novice, WFF, Classic classes don't qualify you for the Open class. An Open Suburb or City title doesn't qualify you either. We respect all federations so an Open ANB title is the same as an Open NABBA title. Everyone is equal at the CCI. Open Qualifier - Anyone can do this class, unless they qualify for the Open. If you qualify for the Open then you can't step down to the Qualifier. The winner of the Qualifier must do the Open the next time they do the CCI. No one can win the Qualifier twice. Masters - Must be 40 on the day of the show. Anyone who is qualified for the Open and feels that they are not good enough can do the Masters class if they want. Novice - Our Novice class is for anyone who has never won a show. You can have placed or competed before, but you can't have won a comp. No one can win the Novice twice. There are two Women's classes. Novice Figure and Open Figure, which makes six classes in total.
	The Bendigo Country Classic is on once again on 1 August.  Leanne Grindrod is the tour leader and she's got a few people going along already. Alex is going as organiser/helper and representing Horleys.
Tom Wojick, Mark Anderson, Darryl Guttenbiel, Jenny Morris and a jnr winner from the Nationals is part of the team.  Annette Gallagher and Richard Parnham has also shown they're keen to be part of the kiwi contingent. There's always room for more! so if you're interested in this contest email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for details.
Now here's Leanne rap of the Bendigo Country Classic

AUSTRALIA BENDIGO COUNTRY CLASSIC 2008-2009

Below is our own experience from the Bendigo CCI show in Australia last year. We are going over again this year to help promote this awesome event which this year is on 1^st August 09. Alex and myself will be judging this time round and focusing on the athletes we are helping promote over there. At present we have aprox team of six. They are organising their own flights to match ours, then we will help organize rental vehicle along with looking into accommodation. After reading our below experience and it if peaks your interest in trying this show,then you can contact us through Lisa at Gofigure in joining in with us.

The one thing that is different this year with CCI is that there is no Womens Physique class. The quality has been very poor in this division and low numbers so a lot of organizers in Australia are looking at deleting it from their events. It has been low numbers in NZ and low standard as well, so come on ladies I don't want to see this class disappear - its how I started in the sport. There will be two figure classes at CCI this year, one novice class and then opens.

Well what ‘cant' I say about the Bendgio CCI competition - to me its been one of my high lights in my body building career. Alex and myself had gone to the CCI show in 2007, I was having a break (simi retired) from competing as I hadn't been well. We went to the show to promote Alex and Darrin - we had heard about how much fun and effort the organizer puts into this show. So along we went to try it out, for us the Muscle Mania which we had been promoting and taking teams over for had gone down hill, and we were looking for another Australia show we could help promote.

In 2007 show Alex had placed 2^nd and Darrin placed 3^rd. The reason we want an Australian show to promote is because they are better organized, awesome awards, true respect is shown, and never forget that you can also fit in some great shopping afterwards. Both Alex and Darrin were supported and cheered on by the Victorian crowd and the organizer, they really appreciated the Kiwis coming over.

The CCI show in 2007 was such an awesome experience that we had to go back in 2008. I HAD to come out of retirement for this which was good, as it gave me new focus and I felt better for it. Alex decided to also compete, even though he had said too many he was having time off - says it was to keep me focused, yeah sure!

We had a few athletes interested in going but as time got closer we had them pull because of financial problems. So the team was Alex and myself. We did a warm up show here in NZ to fine tune and test things with our nutrition to hit it better for CCI show. There is no weight class in the CCI figure so it was my decision to enter in this class, which I prefer, with a healthy and attainable weight. With my required weight in NZ I would have to lose 5kgs of muscle which is really unhealthy and NOT what we should be promoting in bodybuilding.

The good thing about the CCI is there only ONE show, its starts at around 2pm and finish's by 6pm, afterwards there is food and drinks so everyone gets to catch up and make new friends and connections. Usually with two shows in the day you are lucky to done by 11pm and by then you just want to go home and shower. You get a programme sent to you before you get to the show which outlines who's who in all the class and their titles - its very professional.

We flew in early on the Friday, stocked up on chicken from Nandos at Melbourne airport. Jumped on a shuttle into the city, from there we got train tickets to Bendigo. We stopped for coffee and chicken before we got on the train of course. The train ride is really nice and takes a coupe of hours, so we got to catch up on some sleep and keep our meals up. Once arriving in Bendigo which is a lovely Victorian sheep farming town - full of old buildings and warm atmosphere. We caught a taxi to our hotel which was lovely and across the road from the Theatre to which the show is held. We walked to get groceries and then prepared meals back at the hotel, to which later on we started tanning.

Alex and myself have used Jan Tana for the last 3-4 years from when Bodysculpt first brought it in - I wouldn't use any product now after using this. I know why it's the top one that the pro's use. We put on a few coats which didn't take long and then rested up with a drink of coffee. Was I nervous YES, having almost two years off and making a come back was a big thing, you fear that you don't or may not bring back on stage what people are use to seeing.

I had come down nicely though and Alex was also looking his best - we had decided to keep him as full as we could with maintaining his vascularity, but not too lean so he looked smaller. So its always a fine line and the body changes so quickly but I think we got Alex's diet on the right track and many in the crowd thought he looked better and bigger than the year before.

The CCI show is really entertaining, as I have said too many,the organizers go all out with the show starting with dancers, bit of can-can stuff and mid show great guest posers like Christine Envall. So the effort to make it good to watch for the people watching is primo. The old theatre is stunning and not being too big means great atmosphere.

Alex's class was yet another awesome lineup like the previous year, top Australian athletes, always exciting and worth the trip over to get that quality to stand with. The crowd love this open men's class and the organizers go all out for them as well. They start this class with a red stage light so all you see is the men's silhouettes. It was Alex's time this year round and won this class. Scott who came second got awards for best posing routine and best legs - he did have huge legs, wow.

The figure lineup was better this year as well, with seven awesome ladies, it was a pleasure to stand up on stage with them and get to know a couple of them. I was actually nervous as hell. I was happy with my placing of second and got best posing routine award, always love getting that one :o) It was good to get back up there and again the crowd were awesome at cheering us on.

Neil Gardner did the compulsory call outs and did such a good job, he has a nice voice for it - hes such an exciting athlete.

We had great support from Horleys over the year and for our trip over with helping sponsor with our accommodation and the Horleys rep in Melbourne Mark, who cheered hard out for myself and Alex. We are very proud to be Horley's athletes and using their high quality products.

The show ended with heaps of excitement, people who were wanting to talk to us and take our photos.  I got to catch up with Tony who runs the INBA in Melbourne and does a awesome job on the Womens shows over there. Alex and myself nibbled on chicken that the promoters have there for you, as I intended on doing INBA in Taupo when I got back, so NO treats. Both Alex and myself won awesome prizes and the medals and mens trophy is just stunning. I own digital camera and for Alex' s class and Plasma TV.

The next day, Sunday, we had a photo shoot at a local gym in Bendigo, where we oiled and pumped up. It was soo much fun, a little cold but well worth it. Alex had soo many photos taken for Hardcore magazine and it was covered on the front for December just gone. I always love catching up with Craig and Vicki who run the CCI, they really love the sport and put a lot into it, so THANK YOU to them.