The BNBF team ventured out into new territory on the 2nd July 2006.
For it was to be the start of something new and exiting. The First ever BNBF Welsh Qualifier took place at the spectacular Dolman theatre in Newport.
In total we had 24 competitors on the day all fighting to become a brand new BNBF champion. Although little low for a BNBF show, this was a good number for a first and any shortage in competitors was made up for by the standard of those who decided to step in front of the judges on this particular day.
Along with the rest of the team, The Judges for the show were Pros Chris Nsbuga, Rob hope, Vicky McCann, Brandon Greenwood Nigel Davis and British Champ Jason Barnett. Hosing the show was a new face on the BNBF scene Yoyo Butler.
The distribution of competitors in all but two classes was very well balanced which made up what looked to be a great with some competitive classes ahead. With this in mind and the show ready to go the prejudging kicked off early that afternoon without any delay.

Juniors
1st place, Igor Pogrebeshnyy
Igor was the 1st competitor to set foot on the welsh stage and was the only competitor in his class which was unfortunate as he was up for some competition. Igor has a good amount of size and nice shape in his upper body for a junior and was in fair condition today. His main weakness was in his legs which are a not as developed as his top half which creates an imbalance in his symmetry. Igor looked to enjoy his time onstage and presented himself confidently to the judges. With more work and development on the legs Igor will have a much improved package. Being the only one in his class, Igor also decided to try out in the novice class to give himself a bit more of a challenge.
Novice
1st place Simon Jurkiw
From the word go Simon stood out in this class, with a very well proportioned physique from top to bottom, with wide set shoulders, sweeping quads and a small waist. He presented himself very well hitting each pose accurately and produced a good routine during the evening show. Simon’s overall development and package are very good but he needs to work on his condition as he could be so much better with a few more weeks of dieting and more detail to his physique
2nd place Richard Davies
Richard has decent level of muscle on his frame combined with a nice overall shape to his physique. Richard needs to work on his diet a little more to present a more detailed physique as he was too soft on this day only allowing him to take the number two spot to Simon
3rd Place Igor Pogrebeshnyy
(See juniors) Igor stood up well in this novice line up and by no means looked out of place. As already mentioned it was his legs which let him down, but overall his condition and upper half carried him to a solid third place finish, which the junior turned novice looked delighted with when he was awarded his second trophy of the evening.
4th place Robert Sully
Robert carries a lot of mass but needs to focus on his diet to achieve better condition and muscularity. He shows his physique off well but really just needs to dial in his condition to achieve a better contest package.
5th place Marshall Wilson
Marshal is a tall guy with a fairly large structure and has the potential to add a good amount of mass to his frame. He was in good condition but his frame size worked against him in that he appeared quite lightly muscled in comparison to the some of the shorter men in the class. He should look to come back with more mass to his physique in future contests as well as working on his compulsory poses where he appeared to be closing up and hiding himself from the judges when hitting his front and back poses.

Masters
1st place, George Kerr
The razor was in his usual excellent condition and when he walked onstage showed off a well balanced, finely detailed physique. George was a mile ahead in this class and the more he posed the better he seemed to get showing off one of the most conditioned and vascular physiques of the day. George should be aware that on a few occasions he tends to pinch his shoulder blades together when posing from the back which takes away his natural taper and overall shape. A good evening routine with some impressive displays of balance saw him to an easy 1st place today.
2nd place, Grant Sullivan
Grant carries a ton of mass on his frame with notably big delts and arms, and a big pair wheels to match. In both the morning and evening Grants presentation was excellent. He is a good poser and shows himself off at his best performing a well constructed evening routine hitting every pose with precision and style. With his heavily muscled physique and great presentation grant achieved 2nd place this time but Grant will have to work very work hard on his diet in order to bring his condition in and show what his physique really has to offer for the Britain.
3rd place, Bryn Norman
Bryn enjoyed his time on stage, and performed a well practised routine but he needs to loose a lot of body weight and come in tighter in order to be more competitive in this class.

Miss Physique
1st place, Alex Fowler
Alex immediately stood out on this class with a great shape and fine balance. Wide shoulders, well developed legs tapering lats created a great shape. Alex’s presentation and routine was excellent. She is posed with confidence, constantly showing her physique off to its best advantage. Alex had everything she needed for the win today but had she come in tighter displaying a more pronounced, detailed package she would have walked this class. If she is able come in a lot tighter for the Finals in October she will make a tough opponent.
2nd place, Sharon Trivett
Sharon has fairly well balanced physique, looking slightly better when she appeared during the evening. Overall Sharon but needs to practise her poses & try to gain more confidence when presenting herself onstage. Notable poses were her quarter turns and front on relaxed pose where she would tend to maintain an over relaxed stance which hid her natural shape from the judges.
3rd place Carol Williams
Carol was confident onstage and displayed reasonably level of condition in her upper body, however she did not carry enough upper body mass to match her legs which were the dominant parts of her physique but unfortunately were too soft to show any detail. Sharon should work on adding some more upper body mass along with improving her overall condition to improve her physique.

Lightweights
1st place Dave Pownall
From the word go Dave immediately stood out in this class. He has a wide set of cannon ball like delts which taper down to a tiny waist and a finely detailed pair of quads which flare out with a great sweep. His initial front relaxed pose creates an x shape that was a mile ahead of his opponents. Dave’s confidence and onstage presence made him look like a regular to the stage rather than a first time competitor. Add to this his great condition, which although was not ripped to the bone was very impressive, enabling him to do the damage and take home the 1st place trophy. Dave has lots of potential and much room for improvement in terms of adding more upper body thickness. These however would be long term goals. For the immediate future Dave should look at coming in even tighter for the Britain.
2nd place Steven Morris
Steven was one of the bigger men in the class and has a good package with decent legs, arms and a thick upper body. Steve was in good condition on the day but his tan was far too light which worked against him. Steve has a lot of muscle and great potential but did not show himself off to the judges very well. In particular Steve needs to practise his symmetry and his poses from the front & back by trying to open up his lats and shoulders to increase his taper as he has a tendency to do the opposite. He also seems to forget to pose his legs very often which were one of his stronger areas.
3rd place Brian Wellman
Brian’s physique displayed several similarities to that of Steve’s. With thick well built detailed upper body muscles. Although slightly smaller in build, Brian’s condition was a shade better, displaying more detail in his quads which helped, plus he was able to show his physique off to the judges slightly better. Brian had the more detail of the two but again needs to work on his posing and needs to remember to keep his legs tight at all times.
4th place George Kerr (see masters)
George presented a good package in this line and by no means looked out of place. He seemed to tire somewhat during the pre judging in this class, especially when hitting his compulsory poses. This was perhaps due to him competing in the masters class shortly before. Although very good George did not quite have the size of the top three in this class, earning a himself a respectable fourth place in this strong line up .
5th place Chris Flannigan
Chris has a fair amount of muscle on his frame but was let down by his condition today which did not show enough detail. In his quarter turns Chris was too relaxed and did not maintain a good enough shape when compared with his fellow competitors so and should look to put some more practise his symmetry round.

Middleweight
1st place, Ian Scammell
Although not the shapeliest in the class Ian has a very densely muscled physique with lots of quality mass and a great level of condition to show it. A thick detailed back, huge sweeping quads and hams along with an impressive set of diamond shaped calves were just a few of Ian’s strong points. Ian’s level of development and condition are very good but he needs to pay more attention to some of his compulsory poses, especially from the back where he tends to pinch this shoulder blades together which tends to make him look narrow. The same can be said of his front relaxed pose where he seems to be too tense and rounds his shoulders forward creating a similar effect. Despite his structural flaws Ian carried enough mass and a good level of condition to muscle his way into a well deserved 1st place today.
2nd place, Matt Bembridge
Matt presents a great package of well developed full muscles with an equal shape and balance, all packed on to a great structure giving matt a pleasing physique with great lines. Matt had a superior balance when compared to his opponents which enabled him to do well in the symmetry round. His presentation in the muscularity and posing round are also very good but Matt came too soft today which cost him in the second round. If Matt can master his condition he could be a serious player in the middleweights this year.
3rd place, Barry Williams
Barry has a good physique with a pleasing balance and presents himself well. He displayed a good evening routine where he posed with a ‘classic’ style. On this occasion Barry was off and not in the condition he needed to be competitive with the others in the class.

Heavyweight
1st place Sean Slaney
Sean was only other athlete in a 1 man class on the day but was stood onstage with the middleweights for the show.
Sean’s overall size made up for the lack of any other heavyweight competitors today. He has a very large frame packed with mass. A good set of arms, delts and a thick chest and back all rest on a huge pair of wheels. Size is not the issue with Sean as he has lots of it. His main objective should to put more effort into his diet to come in a lot harder for the Britain. Which will make him a very impressive heavyweight.

Miss Figure
1st place Wendy Newman
Wendy had the smaller frame out of the two in this class, but she presented herself well onstage and performed a good routine in the evening. Wendy was a little light in the legs, especially in her hamstrings and calf’s and could do with bringing up this area to improve her balance. Wendy looked slightly better for the evening show but should look to use a darker tan during the pre judging next time she competes.
Drug test failure.
The other competitor in this class who was awarded 1st place on the day refused to take her drug test after the show. This was deemed a fail and the concerned competitor was subsequently disqualified and banned. The final results have been amended after the show and the 1st place prize awarded to the rightful winner as shown above.

Overall
The final battle of the day commenced when each of the weight class winners took their place onstage to fight it out in the hope of becoming the first ever BNBF overall welsh champion.
When they stepped out for the first time the physiques that immediately caught the eye were the novice, lightweight, middleweight and masters winners. Four very strong but distinctly different physiques, each with unique attributes to set themselves apart.
As the symmetry round progressed, the shape of novice winner Simon was very good and although they shared some similarities he was no match for Lightweight winner Dave’s great balance and proportion. Georges shape although well balanced was slightly too light in the legs to match that of the novice and lightweight on this occasion.
As the athletes began to hit their compulsory poses George's excellent condition and vascular most muscular shot stood out immediately but he appeared to lack the overall mass and density of Ian who was also in great condition and carried a lot more muscle. Ian worked hard onstage in every callout and was one of the biggest guys in the line up but when compared next to the lightweight it was Dave’s physique that stood out every time. In the end no one had enough to match Dave’s complete package, which was an equal blend of size, shape, great conditioning, and presentation making him the most complete bodybuilder on the stage and a very deserving first BNBF welsh overall champion.
Congratulations & well done Dave

Report by Rob Hope