Photos by Eric Guy, click here for photos

 

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The Dancehouse Theatre in Manchester played host to the 6th annual BNBF Northern Championships. The 3rd qualifier for the British Finals which take place later in the year. With 57 competitors lined up it was going to be a busy show and a sell out crowd did their friends and family proud by giving raucous support to every competitor all day. It was definitely the noisiest qualifier that I have attended to date!!

 

By now I am sure the majority will have come across the results of the show on some Internet site or other so here’s my take on the events that unfolded.

 

The BNBF crew woke up to a beautiful sunny day, the weather everybody hopes for on show day. Except maybe the Northern championships though, as accommodating a venue that the Dancehouse is it does tend to get a wee bit sticky inside on a sunny day. Before the competitors arrive at the venue the BNBF crew: Guy Addison, Davy J, Floyd, Chris W, Dave Kaye, Annie and Will, Crow , ‘Action’ Jackson, Nigel and Sheena, Vicky and even myself, have all been hard at work setting up the venue and the stage so that everyone, audience and competitors, get the best out of their experience with the BNBF.

 

The show though is about the competitors and 57 had signed up for the Northern experience. We lost a couple in the last week but gained another on the day as one young teen turned up with his membership card only not knowing he had to fill in a contest application too. Once everyone had checked in we had 52 competitors ready and eager to show their worth onstage.

 

1st onstage was the 12 strong NOVICE class. With so many competitors you would expect a very close competitive class. However this wasn’t the case as 1 athlete, David Uzoma Irdebu, was just streets ahead of everyone else. David was just Huge!!! His condition could have been a lot harder but that didn’t subtract much from his awesome physique. Extremely thickly muscled from head to toe with tons of mass in every bodypart he just blew the rest of the class away. His posing was of a novice standard and he should work on that before the British but I can’t take anything away from what was a spectacular debut.

It must be hard when you are standing waiting to get onstage for the other competitors having seen David to know they aren’t going to win today. But regardless of that everyone else came out and battled hard to secure the placing their physique deserved. And with so many of them the Judges made them work extra hard with plenty of punishing call outs.

Then in the evening the audience was treated to some very entertaining routines many of which belied the competitor’s novice status. So with the evening show now fully on its way and a packed audience well and truly up for it the 1st trophies were handed out. 4 competitor’s were placed with the top 3 earning also earning that much sought after Mr. Britain invite. David took 1st to nobody’s surprise and headed to the Overall looking to continue this years streak of Novice class Overall show winners.

2nd went to a delighted Matt Bowden. Matt had certainly done the hard work with his diet as he was in great condition, with lots of crisp clear separation in all of his muscle parts. He posed well and was just unfortunate on the day to come up against such a massive freak in David. He also suffered as so many people did with a bad tan, I think its going to take a few shows for people to get used to applying Jan Tana properly but as far as maintaining quality venues goes it is the way forward for the BNBF. And as the fastidious girls in the Figure class proved, when applied properly it looks great!!

In 3rd Awolola Daniels was like Matt one of the few athletes that had improved from last years show. Displaying much better condition than last year, his well balanced, well muscled physique was much more evident. He has great legs and posed really well. He just needs to be a bit fuller and a little harder still to continue his definite improvement.

Nabbing the final trophy but missing out on a Britain invite was Vladimir Svoncinar. Sporting excellent condition and a super wide upper body he was handicapped by legs that were lagging a good bit behind his upper half. Bring those legs up, and he will be a British finalist.

Also competed: Jason Burns had plenty of size but he needed much better condition. Henry Chan had great shape and a very wide upper body, he also though suffered because his condition wasn’t where it needed to be.

Ryan Harrison had worked on his posing since last year and was in good condition. He needs to just keep working away in the gym and add some more muscle all over his frame, its only a matter of time, with his level of conditioning, before he breaks in to the top slots.

AJ Hazeldine was also in good nick but like many in his class his lack of mass was what held him back. But keep training away and that muscle mass will come.

Dominic Lane was too soft and pale and didn’t pose well enough to make an impact today.

David McGrail put together a great evening routine but his conditioning was a long way off what he needed to be in.

Matthew McKinley had a good upper body but was hampered by a lack of leg mass and needed to be harder.

Perhaps it can be a little disappointing for an audience when a class is so uncompetitive but I think the thrill of seeing the beginnings of such a talented bodybuilder as David should temper some of that disappointment.

 

Next up were the Teens. We also had the introduction today of another future champion in the shape of the excellent Ben Davies. He was the young lad who had only introduced himself for the 1st time at the mornings check-in. It’s fortunate for him that Vicky is such a considerate soul and kindly let him compete, because as his condition highlighted he had clearly dieted and trained very hard for the show and it would have been a shame if he had been sent home!!

Ben was very well developed for a teenager. With standout legs and chest, I also noticed he had thick spinal erectors which is a good sign that he has developed his thick physique with deadlifts and squats. He was in great condition and posed very assuredly and romped home to an easy victory.

The other teens were clearly at the beginning of their bodybuilding careers and hopefully today’s show will have given them plenty of pointers of the road ahead.

Taking 2nd and an invite to the Britain was James Hall. He looked a little slight when stood next to Ben but he was in very good condition which detailed good separation in his muscles. He posed very well and definitely looked to be enjoying his time on stage. James just needs to keep training hard and put more size on his frame.

3rd went to Tom Hoesli. Tom came behind James as he wasn’t quite as sharp as him. He had a very wide upper body with a decent level of mass and also performed a very good routine in the evening. He just needs to work on bringing his legs up in line with his top half.

Rounding out the class in 4th was Arnold Pollock. A great bodybuilding name but today Arnold was too smooth to be a contender. He has a very big structure with well developed arms but needs bigger legs and better condition to challenge the top spots.

 

From the teens we moved on to the Under 23’s. This was a very competitive class with either one of the top 3 easily justifying the top spot and the other 2 competitors being not that far behind either.

Of the top 3 Shyamenda Purslow was the stand out in the symmetry round. Excellent posing complimented his extremely well balanced physique. A very definitive X-frame with wide shoulders v-tapering down to a tidy waist then flaring back out on his well developed and sweeping quads.

Jonathan Bewsher and Stephen Burke had much thicker less aesthetically pleasing physiques so struggled in the symmetry round but their superior mass and condition over Shyamenda gave them the edge in this round. Both displayed thick full upper bodies though they also both needed more leg mass and detail to balance their physiques out and didn’t display their selves as well as Shyamenda. Shyamenda’s posing won himself the 247 Bodybuilding Best Male Presentation award.

In the evening Stephen had gotten slightly harder and this made him edge ahead of Jonathan. So the final decision would be between Stephen’s thick, hard physique and physical stage presence against Shyamenda’s balance and cool classic posing.

Much to the delight of Stephen’s supporters in the crowd he got the nod and 1st place in the under 23’s. With a bit better conditioning Shyamenda stand’s a good chance of reversing this decision at the Britain so Stephen had better keep his focus. Jonathan too with slightly more leg mass and better posing can push these 2 further. All 3 were invited to the British finals.

The other 2 in the class Jason Kon and Neil Morrison although not quite at the level of the top 3 were very competitive. Jason has a great structure with big arms and and very wide back, he also posed very well and just need’s to improve his condition to become a threat to guy’s like the top 3. Neil had a similar physique to Stephen and Jonathan with a thick upper body but unfortunately without legs able to balance his physique out. Better conditioning and bigger legs should be his target for the future.

 

We go from young uns to old yins as next on stage were our Over 40’s competitors. This was also a very competitive class and the guys had some terrific supporters in the audience screaming them on. Like the under 23’s 3 guys were fighting for the top spot with another 2 just a little behind them in terms of quality. The top 3 qualified for the Britain and hopefully will make the journey to Glasgow to continue their battle.

1st Place went to last years Novice Champ Peter Sampson. Peter took the stage with a powerful and well defined physique. With big thick arms, and a super thick spider web chest, he stood out right from the start. When he turned around he didn’t disappoint either displaying a wide, thick detailed back, shredded glutes and sharp hamstrings. He was the biggest guy onstage and really posed well too. In the evening he donned a rather frightening Demon mask which unless he has bright red eyes rendered him blind for his routine. I kept hoping he wouldn’t walk off the stage but he didn’t and his entertaining routine helped cement a 1st place secured by his powerful physique.

2nd was Kevin Powell. This was Kevin’s 1st ever competition and he looked fantastic. He was absolutely shredded, by far the most extremely conditioned person in the show. His legs were sliced with feathered quads. His upper body was sharply defined although he was flat, which seems to be the by product of the ultra shredded physique, so his muscles didn’t look as full as they could have. This flatness and his relative lack of mass compared to Peter deprived him from top spot but it was an excellent debut nonetheless!!

3rd place went to Rick Bannaghan who seemed to have everybody on the left side of the arena in supporting him. Rick was the runner up in last years British Finals but today he just didn’t have the sharpness he had displayed in Edinburgh. He is very thickly muscled with massive arms, however his rear shots weren’t as detailed as the top 2’s and that ultimately relegated him to 3rd place. If he turns up a bit sharper though he will certainly be a British finals challenger again.

In 4th Jose Ruiz was in good condition and had a lot of quality muscle separation, particularly in his legs when he remembered to pose them. He didn’t though have the mass required to challenge the top guys today.

5th was last years winner Ian Stuart Parker. Last year Ian was shredded but today he was a good bit off that condition. He certainly has a lot of mass to his physique but needs to turn up in top condition to challenge, and if he does he is very hard to beat.

 

Last before the evening interval were the Over 50’s which allowed 1st place Denton Wilson just a wee bit longer to perform his fantastic routine. Denton must wonder what he has to do to win the best presentation award at one of these shows and I for one find them to be the most entertaining and the crowd absolutely loves him. Not just a great round 3 guy, Denton has a great physique too. If I look as good as him at his age I will be over the moon. Covered in thick well defined muscle and always in good condition he was a deserving winner and will be a contender again at this years Britain.

Today’s runner up was Peter Middleton. He too has a great build for a man of his years, with plenty of muscle in a well developed upper half. He could use more leg mass though and does need to come in in better condition next time.

Denton may not have scooped the best presentation but he was the lucky winner of the sponsor’s raffle. All today’s competitors had their names enter into the raffle and Denton was the lucky winner of £500 worth of CNP products!!!

 

Guest Star - Grand Master Natural Mr.Olympia Eric Dowey

 

A fantastic guest spot from a truly inspiring bodybuilder. Eric is the best Natural bodybuilder of his age group in the world, and is the gentleman of the BNBF, and we all love and respect him.

He has been bodybuilding for longer than most in the venue have been alive and he is a master poser tonight displaying his thick, powerful physique expertly. He has crazy arms and deeply cut legs and it was a very inspirational performance that the audience thoroughly enjoyed.

Next onstage were the ever glamorous and perfectly tanned Miss Figure competitors. With a Pro card in this class up for grabs for the 1st time at this years Britain, this has been a very competitive and much talked about class, with all the girls giving 100% desperate to win that pro card and with it a chance to test their selves against the best in the world in the USA. As such the judging criteria has changed from last year with the hope of best preparing whomever comes out on top at the end of the year for the ultra competitive competitions in America. With no more muscularity poses this class has become one about symmetry and tone, and with the new T-walk round the athlete who best adapts to the new conditions will come out on top.

Again we had 3 contestants battling it out for top spot, and in fact come the end this was the tightest class on the head judges paper, with count back needed to determine the eventual winner.

The 1st round is the symmetry round with the girls going through the ¼ turns like everyone else in the show. Heather Smith stole an early march on Trudy Wood and Claire Harper in this round. Of the 3 she definitely had the most complete figure with fantastic balance, emphasised by good condition and toned well shaped legs. Trudy Wood was the best I have seen her. She has always been handicapped by a naturally fuller bottom half to her physique but this year she neutralised this by tightening that area up but also by further enhancing the V-shape of her upper body, she definitely had the best back and widest shoulders in the class. Claire was in fantastic condition but her slimmer physique was able to compete in the symmetry round with Heather and Trudy.

However come the T-walk Claire really excelled. Moving elegantly across the stage and posing very well showing off her physique to its best. Trudy too performed the T-walk as if she had done it many times before, perhaps they had heard of my inspiring turn at the BNBF Scottish club and had been working hard at it at their own BNBF Northern club. Heather the stand out girl in the symmetry round, struggled a bit with the T-walk, but for the future she knows she has the figure so an improved T-walk will make her very hard to beat.

As it was coming into the evening I had all 3 girls tied on 4 points. Thank heaven the BNBF opted to allow the evening show to be judge or I would have a very difficult decision to make. As it was as usual all the figure girls posed extremely well and I still had a nightmare decision. After much counting and by virtue of 1 extra 1st place a very emotional Trudy Wood took home the 1st place trophy. An excellent performance!!

2nd went to Claire Harper, highly attributable to her fantastic presentation which resulted in her also receiving the 247 Bodybuilding best female Presentation Award. To win in future she needs to do better in the symmetry round, some more sweep to her legs and rounder delts and she will be extremely hard to beat.

3rd placed Heather Smith should take heart from the fact that she probably had the best Figure of the 3. Of course that’s not all it’s about therefore some hard work on her presentation will give her a good chance of winning the pro card at the British Finals. All 3 were invited and I look forward to seeing them battle it out again.

In 4th Christine Gosman has come a long way since I 1st saw her in the Body Academy gym. Her posing has improved considerably however she still hasn’t gotten her condition sorted out, which she needs to do to complement her well balanced figure.

5th placed Linda Taylor had dieted really hard for this show and was very ripped and separated. Unfortunately that’s not what the judging criteria in this class is about. She was in better condition than the Miss Physique girls so perhaps with a little more muscle added to her frame that’s where her future lies.

 

After the immaculately presented Figure girls next onstage were the poorly tanned Lightweights. Pale, red and with tan running everywhere they all did their best to hide their physiques. Again that for me is the problem with Jan Tana we aren’t all very good at putting it on, with Dream Tan we were all at the mercy of the same tanning girls so all looked pretty much the same!!

Mind you despite that 2 guys stood out and were clearly battling for top spot.

1st went to Dave Pownall. On top of the excellent work Dave has done this year promoting the BNBF, he also had time to whip himself into fantastic shape. With, and there is no other word for it, CRAZY legs!!! Good enough to win him the Best Wheels trophy too. With legs that big, detailed and shapely his upper half would always struggle to match it and it did look a little slight in comparison. But he was in such good condition and was very detailed and separated that this imbalance wasn’t enough to derail him and he was a straight 1st’s winner. Dave obviously realises that he needs to bring his upper body up but I would caution him not to stop training his legs too, I find that people who hold back on leg training to allow other parts to catch up end up with similarly sized but never as hard looking legs. Those legs will allow him to do very well in competitions and we should all worry when his top half catches up!!

2nd place was Liam McKeon. Very big with a thick rugged physique, with massive arms and a very well detailed set of legs too. His mid drift is quite thick so he maybe needs more upper body width to counteract that. Also his posing needs work, but altogether it was an excellent display and he will certainly be a contender in future.

3rd was last years champ Richard Gratton. Unfortunately Richard wasn’t in the razor sharp condition he displayed last year so wasn’t able to push the top 2. However he did earn himself an invite to the Britain so a harder diet will allow his well balanced physique and his ridiculous calves to look better.

4th placed Dave Chapman was in very good condition and had a well muscled, well separated physique. He does need to work on his posing though as it was very good at concealing how good his physique was. With improved posing he has the physique to place much higher and earn a Britain invite in future.

Chris Flanagan was in good condition but hadn’t improved since the Scottish. He needs to add more mass to his frame and work on his posing

Mark Hancock needed a darker tan. He was in good condition and was very detailed from the back, but he needs more muscle particularly in the legs to challenge for the higher spots.

Felix McAlinden had already qualified for the Britain at the Welsh qualifier but wasn’t at his best today. My advice to Felix would be to do no more shows before the British and to eat a good bit more as his physique always looks better when he is fuller.

 

The Middleweights were next. The much hyped rematch between the top 4 from last year plus the addition of Chris Bolger who was the 1st athlete to fall foul of the new suitcase rule invented after last years Britain. Fully clothed Chris weighed just over the middleweight limit but due to the new rule he had to strip down and compete in the class that he really weighed. He was naturally disappointed and knew that he was going to be involved in a tough class but to his credit he resolved to give it his best shot.

Now after a pleasant report so far this will be where I get complained about but unfortunately I was a bit disappointed with this class. Apart from last years 4th place Jason Conway who moved up to 3rd none of these competitors had really improved, in fact they all looked a little down on previous years. Of course they all could quite rightly have anticipated that everyone would get a Britain invite and thus held a little back in their prep and will give it their all later in the year.

I hope all these guys realise how highly I regard them at their best and will take this criticism constructively.

1st placed Darren Vernon was easily the best balanced and has the most detailed upper body of the group. His chest in particular is just ridiculous. But if he is to take the next step and challenge for the Overall at the British he really needs to improve his quads. In such a great physique they are a glaring omission.

2nd again was Daz Cooper his balance isn’t great but he makes up for it with some super thick muscle and is always in condition. Plus his posing routines are a tour de force even when it’s not to his own music. Still as heavily muscled as his legs are he consistently neglects to pose them, Daz must practice holding them with the cuts showing for long periods of times as to often they just look smooth, they are his main advantage over his rival Darren but he just isn’t utilising them. He also needs more back detail to narrow the upper body gap between Darren and himself.

3rd and on the up was Jason Conway. Displaying the same excellent condition as last year he has improved by adding more mass but he still needs to add considerably more to his frame particularly his legs if he is to challenge the 2 Darrens. Still improvements take time and to be better than last year is a credit to him!!

4th was Martin Jukes. Martin has a great Herculean looking physique with barndoor shoulders and an old school thick rib cage and chest. His quads are also large but apart from the occasional quad wobble weren’t showing too many cuts. His condition hasn’t been sharp enough recently. The Martin Jukes that ran Big Vince so close in the Final of 2005 isn’t a 4th place qualifier finisher and I think he just needs to improve his condition to challenge again.

5th place was Chris Bolger. His excellent structure and balanced served him well in the symmetry round but he wasn’t in good enough condition or holding enough mass to push the big more experienced guys any further. He earned a Britain invite too so he knows what to rectify.

 

Only 2 Heavyweights after the weigh in. Where have all the big guys gone? Still both guys onstage today had plenty of potential.

1st place finisher Stephen Pickles was in excellent condition with great separation in all his muscles, particularly his legs. His rear shots were very detailed. He does need to add more mass to his frame, he is very tall so that may take sometime but he is off to a great start and was a deserving winner.

2nd was Matt Alan who was none the worse off from the extra practice he had during his impromptu visit to the novice class earlier in the day. He has really good balance with lots of big bodyparts. He just needs to improve his condition more for his next contest but considering this was his 1st time on stage he has lots of potential.

 

The last class of the day was the Miss. Physique. Unfortunately this wasn’t a particularly competitive class with 1 stand out competitor much better than the rest.

1st went to Helen Thwaites. Helen was in great shape. She has a very wide V-shaped physique and was in good condition which allowed her to display some very detailed muscle groups. She had big arms and a wide detailed back, her upper chest was very striated too. Her legs although big do require a bit more separation, but that was the only fault in an excellent performance. She is definitely a contender for the British title.

2nd place finisher Catherine Hampshire was in good condition with a good amount of muscle on her frame, particularly her shoulders and back. She was very composed on stage and posed really well. Although in good condition her legs could still have been a good bit sharper which would have improved her balance. She earned a invite to the Britain though so continue dieting and those legs will get harder and make Catherine more competitive.

In 3rd and also receiving a Britain Invite was Sandra Mounsey. She was in good condition and is well balanced with very good back detail. She needs to add more mass to her frame to challenge for the top spots though.

4th was Nicola Mitchell. She was in very good condition but she didn’t have nearly enough muscle mass, particularly in her legs to make an impression in this contest.

The evening rounded off with all the male class winners returning to the stage to battle for the Overall Mr Title.

Once everyone was gathered it was clear that the 3 main protagonists were novice champ David Uzoma Irdebu, Lightweight winner Dave Pownall and reigning Overall champ Darren Vernon.

David had the mega mass but not quite the condition of the other 2, Dave had crazy legs but not the upper body size of the other 2, whilst Darren had the best condition and upper body shape but was lacking the Legs of Dave and the sheer mass of David. It was a tough decision requiring them to complete numerous call outs but eventually the judges came to their verdict and Darren Vernon was declared Overall champ for the 2nd year running.

Congratulations Darren and good luck trying to turn that overall title into a British one in October.

 

So an extremely successful show came to an end with Darren sharing the stage with Trudy Wood and Helen Thwaite for the final photo’s. They all looked great and very, very happy. Will they be on stage together at the end of the Britain? They are certainly deserving champions and will be very hard to beat.

 

So next stop St. Albans and the even larger Central Qualifier. Will the Novice category throw up another monster?