Although Lynchburg is a small town, there wasn't a lack of excitement. As always, a diverse international list of competitors assured a good competition. The associated NPC show was also full of competitors from as far away as California.

Pro Bodybuilding
Friday night's prejudging session began with the bodybuilders taking the stage for the symmetry and muscularity prejudging rounds, and there were some instant favorites in the lightweight class, while the middle and heavyweights were less clear cut.

In the lightweights, it was evident that England's Joanna Thomas and Finland's Marja Lehtonen were to two favorites, with the judges favoring Jennifer McVicar. Thomas and Lehtonen have differing bodytypes with Lehtonen being more of the bodybuilder's bodybuilder, with full thick muscles, while Thomas has impressive muscularity as well, but a more aesthetic, symmetrical look to her.

McVicar is one of the more charismatic competitors, but definitely looked like she was not up to the same level as Lehtonen and Thomas. Bothered by abdominal cramps and suffering the lingering effects of food poisoning a few days earlier, it was impressive that McVicar was even able to stay up on stage. A couple of times she had to be helped as her cramping was painfully evident.

Thomas has a physique that can be compared to that of Andrulla Blanchette, and her symmetry and balance are excellent. While not as impressive relaxed, when she hits her shots, Thomas really pops and is almost more impressive because of that variance . Lehtonen on the other hand is rock solid. She was pleased with the improvement in her legs, and it was easy to see that her quads had great sweep to match her impressively thick upper body, including huge, peaked biceps. Of course Thomas also has some of the best guns so the lightweights was a real battle.

In the end, Lehtonen was announced in third place, and the crowd went crazy, with some of the loudest boos heard in quite some time, and some in the audience were so enraged that they were throwing cups and programs. Thomas was a deserving winner, but Lehtonen being placed behind McVicar was puzzling, and it was obvious that virtually everyone in the auditorium agreed. Thomas was confused and a little hurt by the response, thinking that the crowd was booing her, but upon being explained that the boos were for the judges, she felt better, and deservedly so.

Of note was a special award that Jan Tana presented to Mary Ellen Jerumbo, who has competed in the show for the last 10 years. That is every Jan Tana women's bodybuilding show since it began. Jerumbo, a classy competitor who is also one of the friendliest, was moved and gracious in accepting the award.

The middleweights was an interesting class, with a very improved Fanny Barrios making the first set of callouts, along with the now-married Kim Harris. However, a few competitors kept improving as the show went on including striking Canadian competitor, Sophie Duquette. Duquette has great stage presence and carries herself extremely well, along with a very balanced, solid physique. Muriam Bustamante was also one who improved as the show progressed.

Argentinian Maria Bello was the most shredded competitor with onion-thin skin, but a more blocky physique. Harris didn't look as sharp, coming in a tad smooth, but her aesthetic lines kept her in the top three.

In the end however, it was the more massive physique that won out with Barrios taking the class, and Duquette placing second. Considering that in the lightweight class they went for the more aesthetic physiques over the more muscular one, it was a different story in the middleweights.

During Envall's routine, she had the crowd going with her impressive display of muscularity. She even hit a few most muscular poses to the delight of the audience, if not the judging panel. Amy Pazzo followed with her physique presenting a stark contrast from Envall's. Pazzo has a small waist and her joints are tiny, making her look very nice, but her size and mass isn't up to par with the rest of the heavyweights. During the weigh-ins, Pazzo returned to the scale several times after the official weigh in, which made it appear that she may have been gunning for the middleweight class but had to settle for the heavies.

Canada's Lisa Bavington was next, but she appeared distant and perhaps distracted. Her posing seemed somewhat uninspired, but it was evident that she has a strong physique, and merely needs to work more on presentation and details. Yaxeni Oriquen was up next and as always brought an impressive physique to display. Her balance, symmetry and mass were all on, and it looked like this could finally be her year. However, the judges awarded the much-improved Pariso the class, and the understandable disappointment was noticeable on Oriquen's face. She was gracious, but you could tell that it hurt.

Italian Antonella Grilli finished in 8th, but her physique had something intriguing about it. Individually, her bodyparts are strong, but they don't seem to be tied in to each other as well as other athletes. New York's Heather Foster followed, with her usually entertaining routine, and a strong physique that netted her 4th place.

Floridian Sharon Robelle took 5th with a more polished physique, while English competitor Emma Sue ended up widthdrawing from the competition. When it came down to the overall, it was Pariso who took the title, although it could easily be argued that Thomas should have taken the title. However, all three class winners qualify for the Ms. Olympia, so look for them in Vegas in October.

The 45 second mandatory routine round started things off, and as usual, it was a little hard to determine who was better than who, although the top few and bottom few were easier to identify.

When the two-piece round began, the judges called out Jenny Hendershott, Kelly Ryan and Aleksandra Kubielak first. Kubielak dropped out and was replaced by Jennie Hanke in the second callout. Kubielak, from Poland, had a softer look than the others, but has great stage presence and is one of the more striking competitors.

Libby Streeter added some size especially around her shoulders and upper body, and looked excellent. Colorado's Carla Sanchez looked great with a softer look than Ryan and Hendershott, and had an entertaining routine that emphasised the required moves with style. Stacy Hylton was one of the stronger competitors, and had a very dynamic routine with some incredible tumbling. Hylton's routine round placing was 4th, just behind Ryan, Hendershott and Hobbs.

It wasn't clear how the judging standards affected the physique placements as the top two finishers in both the one and two-piece rounds (Ryan and Hendershott) were much harder and ripped than the third and fourth-place finishers (Kubielak and Hobbs).

Of course Hendershott and Ryan took 1-2 respectively in the routine round, but Nicole Hobbs had an electric routine, which Craig Titus was overheard as being described as "epilepsy-inducing." It was definitely high energy and Hobbs was bouncing all over the stage, making it hard for the photographers to keep track of her.

Jennie Hanke looked strong, and placed a well-deserved sixth with a great two-piece round score. Laura Makowski really hit everything for this show, and the super friendly competitor dialed it all in to take 5th place. Makowski is one of the most pleasant competitors backstage, and is respected by many of the other athletes.

Former bodybuilder Linda McLaughlin came in looking smaller than in her bodybuilding days, but still lean. Klaudia Kinski looked amazing with some of the fullest muscle bellies in the fitness show, but only ended up with a 14th place finish. Abbie Appel suffered an injury during the prejudging and couldn't compete in the finals.

Allison Bookless, although placed last by the judges, looked strong and lean, and was probably too tight for the judges, but has a nice hard look to herself (complete without implants!). Her routine was a tribute to the great NASCAR legend, Dale Earnhardt. It was timely, as well as quite appropriate for the locale.

One round that hasn't been mentioned is the one-piece round. That is because this year, only the top five were brought out for that round. It seems quite unfair to the other competitors not to have the chance to be compared in their one-pieces, since that is usually a full round to itself. Many competitors use that round to move up, because their physiques are more suited (no pun intended) to the one-piece. In the end this could have affected the final results quite significantly, but no one can ever know. The worst part might have been that they had everyone change and get ready for the round, and until they actually just judged the top five only, the other competitors were unaware that it was going to go that way.

Because there are only three pro fitness shows this year before the Olympia, the top three competitors were given invites to the Olympia, but at the IFBB Pittsburgh Pro Fitness show, according to J.M. Manion, the top five or six will qualify for the Fitness Olympia.

The heavyweight class was taken by Overall winner Anita Nikolich who looked excellent, and easily beat out Annie Klepacki who had impressive mass, but hadn't dieted down very well. Rounding out the group was Melissa Chiott.

NPC Fitness
The fitness show had a total of nine competitors with three in the short and the remaining six in the tall class. Kara Dallesandro took the short class, with a solid routine and physique, while Karen Howe took a close second, and Keedra Brown rounded out the top three. Dallesandro had the best arms in the class, and her strength moves were impressive as well.

In the tall class Californian Tiffany Kiro swept all three rounds followed by Susan Claxton of Macon, GA. Claxton has a strong physique and routine, and should do well in future competitions. She was followed by Melissa St. Michael who had the most muscular physique. St. Michael was once close to 170 lbs. but has trimmed down for fitness, although she still loves the bigger look. Fourth was Angelique Lupo who is another strong competitor that can compete at the National level. Fifth was Debra Dunn and Barbara Dukold took sixth, but had a strong routine.

NPC Figure
The figure show had 12 competitors and the top position was a close call, with Tina Ponchillia taking second to overall winner Mimi Bowman. Monica Starr took third ahead of Stacy England and Pam Seager and Kimberlee Bommarito.

The tall class was won by Dina Al Sabah, who followed closely by the very impressive looking Samantha Bullington. Heather Heist took third and Mindy Osborne followed. Erin Lindsey was fifth. Lindsey sports impressive delts and a strong physique. Jenny Johnson rounded out the group.