The Nationals had to be well organised. There were 112 athletes that had to be catered for. This show was highlighted by the high quality and numbers of athletes in each class and the judges were really tested deciding some of the winners. The novice athletic tall, novice figure short, open figure tall were some of close ones that come to mind. The novice athletic short class was great but the close conditions of Jason Bartley and Dean Shilton was fantastic to watch but Jason's extra muscle maturity and vascularity gave him the edge, which also won him the Overall title.
The novice figure short class saw some fantastic conditioned girls but Tamaku Paul from Whakatane was a cut above with her leanness while Bridget Emmett's structure placed her second over the impressive muscles of Karen Julian.
The Open figure tall was another that saw 3 great figures with their own uniqueness. Lisa Bellingham was nice and lean, Eve Dombrovski had the mass and condition and Kym Carter had the symmetry and full round muscles. In the end symmetry won the day and the Overall Title. Amazing achievement for Kim, considering only at the start of the year she was diagnosed with tumor behind her left eye and has had to have surgery to remove it about 6 months ago. We'll have more of Kim's inspirational story in the future.
Naera Johnson saved her best condition to last. She was looking awesome with full round and defined muscles and took out the overall title over the ever improving Lucie Thompson and the cut Moira Lavender-Ashburn.
The Open Men saw some nice physiques too. The tall class was the battle between christchurch's Phil Musson, Garth van der Merwe and Alex Simays of Auckland. All the guys had nice full muscles but it was Alex's ripped conditioned that won him the title. His main rival for the overall title was Stan Tautalanoa (his 12th show this year!) who took out the International class. It was great to see these guys posedown side by side but Stan just couldn't quite match Alex's size and condition.
Stan still has 2 more shows this year to do including the Nth Harbour and an International Asian comp in Dubai on 7 Nov. By the end of year he'd done 14, a record that no one will match for years to come we're sure!
What a great Nationals to end a very busy year. Thanks Peter and NABBA for letting Go Figure share your shows with our viewers throughout the year! lets do it all again next year.
Lisa, Go Figure
28 October 09
p.s Muscleimaging will also have pics up. Nice to be happy snapping beside you too Keith!
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