* The weekend of June 18-19 found me in the Chicago suburb of Rosemont, Illinois, for the 2004 NPC Junior National Bodybuilding, Fitness & Figure Championships. This turned out to be the largest NPC Junior Nationals ever. The figure division alone had more than 180 competitors, all trying to secure four IFBB figure pro cards up for grabs. The total number of competitors overall exceeded 300! I found it encouraging that the tally of competitors in women's bodybuilding was larger than it had been the previous two years at this contest. Unfortunately, the number of fitness athletes slid down.
In anticipation of the contest's growth, copromoters Pam Betz and husband Rod Larsen reserved a larger ballroom. It was needed, as they pretty much sold the place out for Saturday night's finals. The prejudgings on Friday night and Saturday morning were just as packed. That meant plenty of autographs to be given out by the IFBB pros in attendance working at booths. They included guest poser Chris Cormier along with Adela Garcia-Friedmansky and Julie Palmer at the GNC booth, Art Atwood and George Farah at the American Bodybuilding site, Amy Yanagisawa-Wilkins with Twinlab and Zena Collins at the MET-Rx location. Others there included Toney Freeman, Kimberly Becker, Kim Klein and Elaine Goodlad. Last year's overall winners Jimmy Canyon and Dena Westerfield were there, too. Four-time Ms. Olympia Kim Chizevsky, who was the co-emcee of the contest with Kenny Kassel, came with the main man in her life--her son Dominic, although husband Chad Nicholls was there, too.
Since Illinois is Adela Garcia-Friedmansky's home state, she brought along her own AGF Team to compete, which consisted of figure competitors she trained, including Jenny Guenther, who placed fourth in Class B, Randi Post and Dana Della Valle. Now don't get the idea that AGF stands for Adela Garcia-Friedmansky. No, their shirts spelled it out as 'Absolutely Ghetto Fabulous.' When I asked her what that meant, the whole gang of them just started giggling. Hmm ...
* On July 9, I was in Fairfax, Virginia, with Garcia-Friedmansky again, this time for the 2004 NPC BodyRock Bodybuilding & Figure Championships and NPC Monica Brant Fitness Classic. In addition to working for GNC again, Garcia-Friedmansky brought along a different group this time, which consisted of Anna Level and Alti Bautista. They dubbed themselves Tres Latinas, and they guest posed as a group at the contest.
The other guest posers at the contest included six-time Mr. Olympia Ronnie Coleman, Jen Hendershott and Darrem Charles. That right there would be considered pretty star-studded when you also include copromoter of the event Monica Brant. But that wasn't the full extent of it. Over the past five years, the brainchild of this contest, BodyRock Productions President Steve McAdams, has built it up from a bodybuilding-only contest back in 1995 to include the BodyRock Health and Fitness Expo that spans two levels of George Mason University's Center for the Arts. It's unique in that the second level overlooks the main floor, so the vendors and fans browsing up there can watch what happens on the expo stage.
Outside of Coleman, the next biggest name in the venue was Kevin Levrone, who was down in weight and explained to the audience that he's trying to make a foray into acting in Hollywood and has the support of none other than our very own executive editor, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger! Levrone also assured the crowd that he wasn't hanging up his posing trunks just yet and that it was guaranteed that we'd see him on an IFBB stage again in the future.
Also attending the event were the Blade, Chick, Curly Top and Papoose, otherwise known as IFBB pros Dexter Jackson, Bob Cicherillo, Stan McCrary and Ivory Turner III. Chick and girlfriend Brenda Kelly were the emcees for the finals. Figure Olympia champion Davana Medina was working the MET-Rx booth with Zena Collins, Lisa Reed represented Worldwide Sports Nutrition, Jaime Franklin was with GNC, and both Rich Gaspari and Yohnnie Shambourger were at their own supplement company's booths. Other IFBB pros in attendance were Willie Stalling, Bethany Howlett, Tracey Greenwood, Denise Gerard, Gayle Moher and Dina Al-Sabah.
Trust me, if you've never been to the BodyRock Championships, you don't know what you're missing. This show ranks right up there as one of the best NPC regional contests in the country and should be experienced at least once.
To find out more about NPC events in your area or to join the NPC, contact the NPC National Office at (412) 276-5027, check out the official Web site at www.npcnewsonline.com and keep an eye on this section along with the Events list.
RELATED ARTICLE: TALENT ROUNDUP
2004 NPC Junior Nationals
1-Chastity Slone Figure D-class and overall winner 2-Abby Duncan Figure A-class winner 3-Waleska Granger Figure B-class winner 4-Jennifer Peyton Figure C-class winner 5-Steve McLeod Heavyweight and overall winner 6-Kristina Henn Fitness tall-class and overall winner 7-Christine Sabo Light-heavyweight and overall winner 8-Dave Candy Bantamweight winner 9-Patrick Richardson Lightweight winner 10-Lamont Billings Middleweight winner 11-Lance M. Johnson Light-heavyweight winner 12-Byron English Super-heavyweight winner 13-Wendy Wolbert Fitness short-class winner 14-Donna Karr Lightweight winner 15-Keri Yates Middleweight winner 16-Yvonne Edmunds Heavyweight winner PROMOTERS: Pam Betz--Betz/Larsen Event Management SITE: Hyatt Regency O'Hare Hotel; Rosemont, Illinois GUEST POSER: Chris Cormier (Courtesy of Weider)
PHOTOREPORT BY J.M. MANION
PHOTOREPORT BY J.M. MANION
