The show had some high calibre athletes in all classes from novice to the open male and female classes. It was great to see big numbers and some of the classes had at least 6 athletes; these included the Masters Men, Nov Men 70-80kg, Senior Figure 35+ and Novice Figure Tall. 

Some seasoned athletes entered the contest including Donna Randall, Karen Montague, Michelle Dixon, Judy Duggan (coming all the way from Invercargill!). Frances Robinson made an awesome comeback after 13 years absence to take out the overall physique women's title.  Dave Weeks, Sanjeev Narayan, Nolan Smith and of course the big guy himself, Darryn Onekawa, made his presence felt.

Two years away from the stage has done Donna Randall good. She has made a big turnaround in her figure and she presented a hard and well conditioned body to win the Overall Figure.  Although Karen Montague's traditionally a figure girl, she competed in the Bodyfitness class so she can qualify for the Nationals in this class.  I want to commend Karen for this move, after all she didn't really have to due to the sudden rule change which grants figure girls the opportunity to do bodyfitness anyway.  So good on you Monty for putting in the effort and doing the right thing! 

But one wonders why the sudden rule change?  Nobody really did bodyfitness before and it's been one of those silent classes that wasn't really promoted.  Now suddenly for it to be big news pre Nationals is strange.  Then again, bodyfitness is a class that girls have to do if they want to compete overseas so perhaps there are some athletes out there who will do this class instead of figure and this class could be the one to watch at the Nationals. Who knows? I guess it'll all be revealed soon. OK enough of that.  Just wanted to air my thoughts. 

Back to the boys and some nice hunks there were.  Dave Weeks wowed us in the classic while Sanjeev showed his usual spectacular symmetry in the open men 80-90kg class.  He wasn't quite sharp but his aim is to peak at the Nationals so watch out.  But it was Darryn who surprised us with awesome mass and condition.  He was hard as and had veins popping everywhere; his hammies were out and he posed well to show us all his hard work.  Darryn will be a force to be reckoned with at the Nationals.

Kaye and Tony also guest posed.  I hadn't seen Kaye in the flesh, well in a bikini, for a long time and I'd forgotten just how much mass she had. Wow!  She has muscles on muscles and with definition to match.  Don't know how she found the time to organize the comp, diet and train to guest pose as well.  Her routine was great, feminine, classy and showed off her physique well.  So jealous of those legs.  She even had hamstrings!  Hope to see you on stage again Kaye and against some competition perhaps.

Tony wowed the spectators as usual with his funky moves that even Michael Jackson would have been proud of.  Next on his tour is the Nationals so book your seat now.. ha ha!

So yes it was a great show all round and thanks to Kaye and Darryl for making everybody feel welcome.

Enjoy the pics!

Lisa Menzies
Go Figure
29 Sept 09