Yorton Cup 2008 By Darren Vernon
WEDNESDAY
Well, well, well where do I start...After a long but pleasant eight hour
flight with PRO figure winner Heather Smith the trip was underway. Partially
carbed we arrived at Washington International airport to face the onerous
task of battling our way through customs... Whereby bananas, potatoes
and various carb loading foods were removed from our luggage and discarded.
This meant a trip to the supermarket and buying it all over again. Once
overcoming the onerous task of getting through customs were we caught
up with Annie and her Husband Lee, the four of us were then greeted by
Nigel, Sheena & Andrew. So off to the Comfort Inn it was battling
through rush hour traffic in the airports shuttle bus, eventually we arrived.
Not too long to nest thou as Annie, Heather and I had to be out again
to find food without succession, so Andrew, Nigel & Sheena went out
on the hunt for us ?
THURSDAY
After a quick trip to Golds gym it was back to the hotel to top up on
food and water, which was all controlled by Guy and greatly appreciated
too, as I was trying to eat every carb loading substance in sight including
the bathroom sponge to stand up against the giant Americans. Then it was
time to practicing posing with (BNBF’s Daddy) Nigel Davies who I
refer to as the “Simon Cowel of the BNBF establishment”....
Each of us taking it turns to show our stuff and to be quickly brought
back to earth by Nigel!!!! It was harsh but invaluable and I loved it.
Pose after pose, after pose until Nigel saw fit for the job...then it
was back to our rooms for rest and food albeit I was finding it difficult
to rest due to the overseas time difference playing around with my body...
Mid-day and it was time for our polygraph test (whereby I feel asleep
during the test, ?lol) and time to register receiving our class numbers
and goody bag. Again in the evening it was time for more posing, more
constructive criticism, and more improvements! Even with numb bums from
sitting out in the lobby waiting for the BNBF gang to return from dinnerJ.
By this time “some” of us were tired but there was no mercy
from “Mr Cowel” Finally the night was ours clock watching
for each and every meal...Luckily Annie, Heather & I had all brought
our laptops to watch videos & to keep in touch with family & friends,
as the time seemed to be going very, very slowly!!!!
FRIDAY (Free DayJ)
Friday was the day to get a bit of sightseeing done (but not until we
had practised posing?) although not much site seeing was done due to strict
instructions from the BNBF group to rest & sleep whilst Heather and
the gang went shoppingL. We were instructed to stay in our rooms to rest
and recuperate ready for the show... The gang was back and it was time
for more posing and more constructive criticism although by this time
the job for Nigel was getting easier as we got better, then it was back
to our rooms to be feed & watered. As the night drew on so did anxiety
and already it was time for more posing whereby Heather took some severe
“constructive” criticism but handled it well, & give it
her all!
After a gruelling day of posing it was time for some teamwork to apply
the first coats of tan, Lee (Annie’s husband who was there to support
Annie) applied Jantana tan to Annie and Raymond whilst Heather & I
tanned ourselves and each other’s backs as we were using Dream Tan
which took us into the early hours of the morning, finishing off with
some more posing & then analysing our tans in the hotels full length
mirrors & spot lights. Job was a good’n.
SATURDAY (Show Day)
Here we go again time for some more teamwork Annie, Lee, Heather &
I were up at the crack of dawn to start applying the next coats of tan
and then off to the venue for an 8:30am briefing. Luckily Ben Tennasons
partner was around to take us to the venue as by this time taxis were
getting costly not to mention there unreliability.
The Venue was nice and the IFPA team were well organised & most professional,
briefing all competitors on what to do and where to go & not go within
the venue. As time moved on waiting for no one, it was nearly time for
us to go to battle! So again we had to pull together in order to get each
other tanned, ready & focused for the day’s events. Everybody
was looking on form and ready to go, which was clearly evident as all
contenders watched us Brits start to warm up. All competitors were extremely
complimentary towards us especially the Americans who exchanged email
addresses with us for future contact (that was a nice feeling making us
feel welcome within their home territory).
After a morning of some intense judging the first round was over whereby
this time we had all been placed (thew) but we didn’t know where!!!!
The pressure was off slightly and back to the hotel it was for rest and
a top up of energy. 5pm and it was time for us to go back for round two,
which meant more taxis, which I might add are not cheap especially once
the driver realised that we weren’t from that part of town, taking
us the long way round. Round two was purely for crowd entertainment (and
boy did the audience love for a show to be put on) which was nice as everybody
was slightly more relaxed. Once all the routines were done it was time
for the placing which went like this:
Figure Pro
1 Naome Murdock #106 (VA) $2,500
2 Yenny Polanco #110 BP (MA) $1,600
3 Monika Rodgers #102 (PA) $1,000
4 Nancy Accetta #107 (MD)
5 Bridgette Grosvenor #105 (TX)
6 Katie Carron #104 (MA)
7 Shianne Behan #109 (CA)
8 Liz Williams #103 (AZ)
9 Heather Smith #101 (UK)
10 Marie Allen #111 (VA)
11 Katrina Roundtree #100 (MD)
12 Leyla Yurchick #108 (OH)
Women's Pro Bodybuilding
1 Maria Carolina Davis #116 BP (TX) $2,600
2 Karly Green #121 (AZ) $1,500
3 Carolyn Brinkley #123 (MD) $1,000
4 CHeryl Szarmach #120 (PA)
5 Doreen Harris #119 (PA)
6 Lisa Watson #117 (CT)
7 Annabel Ottey #124 (UK)
8 Drexel Long #122 (TX)
9 Kealoha Nicholes #114 (CA)
10 Tomoko Cruz #118 (IL)
11 Susan Hellstrom #115 (VA)
Men's Pro Bodybuilding
1 Darren Vernon #133 (UK) $2,500 J J J J J J J J
2 Kareem Petteway #129 BP (MD) $1,600
3 David Lovelace #137 (FL) $1,000
4 Damon Gillis #142 (DE)
5 Ben Royer #132 (PA)
6 Garry Engle #140 (Germany)
7 Raymond James #135 (UK)
8 Isaac Scott, Jr. #127 (MD)
9 James Carron #134 (MA)
10 Israel Ocasio #147 (OH)
11 Chadwick Austin #144 (DE)
12 Wil Usher, Jr. #130 (DC)
13 Larry Wizorek #136 (PA)
14 Gregory Kerr #141 (MD)
15 Joseph Viteritti #143 (NJ)
16 Kerry Napier #138 (UK)
17 Luke Guldan #139 (NY)
18 Tim Sinz #146 (MD)
19 Joe Patton #131 (PA)
20 Ricky Lee Bryant #128 (CA)
21 Jay Burkett #145 (CA)
BP = Best Poser/Presentation $100 Bonus
WHAT A DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
After the show it was the usual, urine analysis. In the meantime we were informed of a local venue everyone was attending for the after party / meal!!!!!!!!
After the analysis Annie, Lee, Heather & I were on our way to the venue for a well deserved scran?. Luckily Kareem Petteway (Mens Pro runner up) was kind enough to give us a ride to the venue along with my MASSIVE trophy as the rest of the gang had already gone to the venue and we had no idea where we were going (Diamond Geeza). Once we arrived, again the judges & American competitors were extremely complimentary of our performances, especially Heathers. After a nice and well deserved meal & drink J which none of us could finish off it was off back to the hotel. Luckily one of the diners staff members was kind enough to give us (Annie, Lee Heather & I) a lift back to the hotel as we had been left stranded in the diner foyer for over 45 minutes having no joy with the taxi’s.
So after a long day of teamwork between the four of us we were back and exhausted to finish our mealsJ, chat, laugh & discuss the day’s events. As the night drew on we decided to solider on through the night not going to bed thinking about the breakfast awaiting us in the morning. Annie, Lee, Heather, Raymond & I went down to breakfast to indulge or should I say “over indulge” in true American style. Again staff and competitors staying at the hotel once again made us feel welcome as we sat down to enjoy a proper breakfastJ. Before we knew it was time to get ready to leave for home L and face the arduous mission of airport customs... Unfortunately we didn’t get to see Kerry Napier again after he pulled out from the morning show. So as Vicky, Guy, Nigel, Sheena, Andrew and Raymond left for New York, Annie & Lee moved on to travel Washington; it was left to Heather & I to get ourselves to the airport. Another mammoth task of waiting around for taxis as we couldn’t get hold of the ‘BNBF’s specialist’ taxi driver, but eventually we made it, we were on our way home!!!! This was a trip never to be forgotten by the four of us and on the whole a good one!!!! The Brits were returning with some good top ten placing.
Special thanks going out to the BNBF team for our squad jackets (even if mine was too small ? lol) and enabling us to compete in such an incredible show and not forgetting some new genuinely nice friends Annie, Lee and Heather who helped make the trip everything it was, god only knows what we would have done if we never got on!!!!!!!
Thanks Guys
Daz x
(PRO 2008 Champ) J