Edmonton,
AB, Canada -
Promoter John Dirks worked his magic once again putting on a
sterling Canadian Championships event at the Windspear Centre, in
Edmonton, Alberta, on August 18th.
Working
with a field
that totaled just over 200 contestants in both men’s and women’s
divisions, the large Edmonton audience was treated to the biggest ever
Canadian Championships – and a women’s event that showed excellent
quality among the top finishers in each class. It was Dirks
who
also staged an outstanding
Canadian
National contest at this same venue
in 2004, so he has perfected his promoting craft.
With
the women
contestants faced with the prospect of entering this year’s Nationals
in just two weight classes, a last minute reprieve by Canadian
administrative officials made the move back to three weight classes. In
effect, the move made the contest much more competitive in adding an
additional winner for the final posedown and making for a fairer
playing field with contestants of similar heights and weights competing
together.
“It could have easily been a very
unfortunate
experience for many competitors,” said one Canadian official. “We
realized too many women may have been competing in a heavyweight class
against opponents who were outweighed by 30 to 40 pounds. And
the
lightweight class was just too big, considering what would have been a
large elimination round to cut the field to 15. It was
discussed
at length and we voted to return to the three weight
classes.” As
the contest and its eventual results turned out, it was the best move
imaginable – and the Canadian Federation showed they were on the ball
in looking out for their athlete’s best interests.
A
field of
nearly 50 contestants in five divisions made this event one in which
the judges were faced with a widely varying groups of very competitive
physiques.
The
Lightweights –The
lightweight division provided judges with the first headache of the
evening when they faced the prospect of separating three strong
finishers – two of which were former Canadian lightweight champions.
With the final tallies in, Carmen Tocheniuk (the 2005 Canadian
champion), and Heather King (the 2006 lightweight winner) both found
themselves taking a back seat to pint-sized Cheryl McCarthy.
At
just 5-0, 110 pounds, McCarthy convinced judges she carried the most
muscle in the class showing good thickness in her upper body while
displaying no obvious weaknesses. From Spruce
Grove,
Alberta, McCarthy was the 2006 Alberta Provincial LW champion, as well
as the Masters overall winner, and also added a runner-up finish in the
Canadian Masters division here.
Fellow Albertan and crowd
favorite
Carmen Tocheniuk settled for the runner-up spot, and at 5-3, 117 pounds
she was at the top end of the lightweight class - just making the
weight break. Doing her best imitation as last year’s overall
winner, Nicole Ball, Tocheniuk was perfect in her overall contest
readiness and stage presence. She simply lacked the muscular
levels of McCarthy – and that element alone was what this judging panel
held in highest importance. Tocheniuk has the look of a future pro,
should she continue to enter the Canadian Nationals with an ongoing
improvement in her muscular cultivation and the same level of physical
conditioning. She was impeccably well-prepared and her
overall
look could be best described as ‘Beautybuilding’.
Ontario’s
Heather King was slightly off the muscular detail and contest condition
that brought her the Canadian lightweight crown
last
year.
That
said, she still made herself competitive with a striking stage
presence. Competing since 2002, the 5-2, 117-pound King
displayed
her patented v-shaped torso and a creative posing routine - two
elements that forced judges to keep one eye on her as a top
placer. King also added a fifth-place finish in the Masters
category competition.
Fourth went to tiny Amelie
Bourget of
Shannon, Quebec. The 5-0, 110-pound personal trainer
qualified
with an overall win at the 2007 Quebec Provincial Championships, and
showed nice overall balance and what could best be defined as a
‘miniature elegance’.
Rounding out the top five
lightweights was
Ontario’s Michelle Richards. A former track & field
sprinter,
the 5-3, 117-pound Richards was the lightweight and overall winner at
the 2005 Ontario Provincial Championships and works as a counselor for
women in conflict with the law……a challenging profession if there ever
was one.
Seventeen contestants competed in the
largest-ever Canadian lightweight class.
The MiddleweightsThis
was the weight class that not only saved the contest in terms of a
fairness doctrine overall, but it also created the most competitive
category of the entire event. And nary a complaint was
heard! The division provided a rugged group of 11 contestants
with no less than six competitors who boasted solid national level
contest resumes and the physiques to back it up.
For
the
judges, it was no picnic in the park. The top group included
a
chiseled Nadia Nardi in her best shape ever, the superbly structured
Cindy Phillips – runner-up in this class a year earlier, international
veteran competitor Johanna Dejager – who showed outrageously developed
biceps, hamstrings and abdominals, and the newly crowned Alberta
overall champion Jessika Lafontaine with a set of legs to die for.
Bottomline,
the final decision could have gone a number of ways depending on the
judge’s assessment with all these quality physiques and their differing
structural and muscular shapes.
This night the
scores favored
Nadia Nardi’s sharp definition – especially in her quads and upper
body. At 5-1, the self-employed chef and caterer cooked herself up an
outstanding muscular look that was tightly packed with 123 pounds of
cultivated muscle. Nardi is a former BC Provincial champion
and
was the runner-up MW at the 2004 Canadian Championships. Her entry this
year was supported by the desire to make amends for the disappointing
fourth-place finish she suffered at last year’s Canadians.
“I
totally blew it last year,” relates Nardi about her fourth place finish
in the middleweights. I just wasn’t taking the contest seriously enough
and I learned my lesson. I was determined to do it right this year, and
Helen Bouchard kept me on track all the way. I was on a
20-week
prep for this event, so I’m ecstatic that I won. It was a
long
time to stay focused at the level Helen wanted me, but I can’t complain
with the results. She knows her stuff!”
Markedly
different in
physical structure and muscle shapes was runner-up Cindy Phillips. A
comparative youngster at 23, Phillips is a former Canadian Junior
champion who is steadily developing into a very fine bodybuilder. A
runner-up at last year’s Canadians to eventual overall champion Nicole
Ball, Phillips is a prototype for the idyllic genetic structure in
which to build a pro level physique for the future.
In
this
case, the future came sooner rather than later when Phillips found
herself on the receiving end of a Canadian Federation decision to award
a ‘discretionary pro card’ after Nadia Nardi had out-flexed her weight
class-winning counterparts for the overall crown and the coveted pro
card that goes with the overall championship title.
Understandably,
Phillips was stunned by the pro card decision bringing tears of joy as
she was brought back to the stage after the intermission. When asked
what her first thoughts were after the announcement that she had been
selected for a pro card, Phillips worried about whether her mother (who
had accompanied her to the event) was still in the auditorium to see
her presentation. Fortunately, she was. From Halifax, Nova
Scotia, Phillips became the first IFBB pro from the tiny maritime
province. In addition, she also instantly became the IFBB’s youngest
bodybuilding pro, and the youngest Canadian to turn pro since Deanna
Panting earned pro status in 1984 at the age of 20. Phillips’
presence will no doubt help shape the future of the pro division over
the next several years.
Further evidence of the quality in
this
class came by way of third-place finisher Johanna Dejager (pictured). A
winner of
just about every title available in Canada in the drug-tested
competitions, Dejager held her ground well in her first open Canadian
Championships finishing third in both the open and Masters
divisions. A silver medalist at last year’s IFBB World
Amateur
Championships in Spain, Dejager displayed amazing biceps, great detail
in her back, and the contest’s best abdominal/serratus combination.
Simply amazing. Dejager, from Kanata, Ontario, will once
again
represent Canada at the Worlds next month in an effort to win Canada’s
first gold in almost two decades. Remarkably, Dejager is 37, bujt
barely looks a day over 21. That fact, in tandem with her
outstanding muscular level, also earned her a third-place finish in the
Masters class.
Fourth
went to National newcomer
Jessika
Lefontaine of Alberta. Another in the ever-growing stable of fine
competitors in this province, this former track & field
sprinter
bolted into the forefront of everyone’s attention with a pair of the
most beautifully developed legs in the entire event. In fact,
the
5-2, 118-pound Lefontaine was awarded the ‘Best Wheels of the Show’ at
the 2007 Alberta Provincial Championships where she also added the MW
and overall crowns. As this 30-year-old beauty adds upper
body
muscle volume to her physique, she will become a genuine threat in the
middleweight class Nationals of the future.
Rounding
out the
top five in the MW division was Lefontaine’s fellow Albertan Chermine
Crick.
Further
evidence of the strength and depth of this class was also illustrated
by non-placer Heather MacKinnon – yet another budding star from
Alberta. Along with Lyris Cappelle in the HW class, MacKinnon
also showed mega-improvement over her past showing at provincial events
leading up to the Nationals. Watch for her to crack the top five in
2008.
And so, with both IFBB pro card winners coming
from the MW
class, the twosome also represented the most geographically diverse
distance possible in Canada. With Nadia Nardi calling Victoria, BC
home, and Cindy Phillips hailing from Halifax, Nova Scotia, the
distance between the two amounts to nearly 2,800 miles – with Victoria
bordering on the Pacific and Halifax on the Atlantic.
The HeavyweightsThere
was little rest for weary judges in the heavyweight class as three very
good competitors locked up in a battle of muscular wits that came down
to general stage presence and the 'little things' that can make a
difference in a decision at almost any level event.
Here,
Nathalie Hould of Quebec, Janeen Lankowski from Ontario, and
Saskatchewan's Lyris Cappelle all showed excellent physical qualities
in a field of 14 contestants, but the trio forced judges to use
secondary elements of their comparative looks to finally separate them.
With
Nathalie Hould getting the eventual victorious nod, her victory came
not so much because of exceptional muscular development, but by
presenting herself professionally during virtually every moment of her
stage time. Prepared for the contest by current pro and
former
Canadian champion Helen Bouchard, the 5-3, 129-pound Hould kept herself
at a high level of stage presence throughout the contest. Even when
standing in back lineups when not being called out for comparisons,
Hould kept her quads separated and a smile on her face.....those
'little things' that can make a difference. A former third-place
middleweight finisher at the Canadian Nationals in 2005, Hould's
structural qualities were a big plus in keeping her look high in the
judges notes. She will no doubt return in 2008 to
make a
push for the overall title - assuming she can repeat her victory here.
For
runner-up Janeen Lankowski, her placing was a bitter pill to
swallow. From Kitchener, Ontario, Lankowski is a former
gymnast
whose posing abilities are without parallel at the amateur level in
Canada. After winning the 'Best Poser' award at last year's Canadians,
she repeated that accomplishment here. Much improved and in razor-sharp
condition, Lankowski now adds another runner-up finish at the Nationals
to her second-place finish as a middleweight in 2005. She was third in
the HW class at last year's Nationals, but the step up in placing was
of little comfort when she had the victory solidly in her sights.
Perhaps
the most improved competitor at this year's Nationals was Lyris
Cappelle. From the tiny community of Swift Current, Saskatchewan,
Cappelle was striking in her overall look wearing a beautiful golden
bikini for the evening show. At 5-4, 134 pounds, Cappelle was the
runner-up in this class last year, making her notable improvement
something of an anomaly while at the same time dropping one place. As
was the case with Lankowski, Cappelle also forgot to realize that
judges were assessing them throughout the competition, even when they
were not in primary callouts. The reality that both were completely
relaxed in back lineups and seemingly detached from the competition
cost both of them dearly, as they each possessed all the physical tools
to win the class. Each will be a prime candidate for the HW title in
2008.....not to mention the overall crown.
Fourth
went to
Ontario's impressively developed Wendy McMaster. At 5-3, 139 pounds,
McMaster was thickly developed throughout her physique and in
particular her side chest poses were mind-blowing. New to the
National level, McMaster was prepped for the contest by Laura Binetti,
and based on that fact, she will no doubt make notable improvements
when the Nationals move to Montreal in 2008. McMaster also finished
fourth in the Masters class, further enhancing her initial National
debut.
An unfortunate note in this class had Zoa
Linsey dropping
out after coming down with a bout with the flu upon arriving in
Edmonton. Her weakened state kept her from making an
appearance
in the contest after traveling from Japan to compete. Her presence in
top shape would have no doubt made a significant difference in the
final outcome considering the fact that she had finished third in the
2005 Canadians.
Illness also took the wind out of
Kim Birtch's
sails - and ultimately the contest - as she too would have made this
class further impressive (as well as more difficult to judge) with her
greatly improved muscular presence.
Also of note was
the fact
that defending HW champion Pam Howard decided not to return to the
evening event after finishing fifth. Her premature exit cost her a
final placing as Marylynne MacKenzie moved up to the official
fifth-place position.
In other divisions, Marilyn
Dupuis of
Manitoba took top honors in the Grand Masters class for women over 50,
while Quebec’s Nathalie Hould doubled up on her victories by adding the
Masters (over 35) competition to go with her open HW win.
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