The BNBF trip to the IFPA Yorton Cup
The Yorton Cup is a huge natural Pro comp held in Washington DC , the title came from being named after Chet Yorton. Essentially, Yorton is the Father of Natural Bodybuilding. He is credited with holding the very first drug tested bodybuilding competition back in 1978. Yorton is also a widely known figure from bodybuilding's Golden Era (60’s & 70’s) who had quite a distinguished competition career, claiming titles such as the IFBB Mr. America and NABBA Mr. Universe and being one of only three men who ever defeated Arnold Schwarzenegger.
This was the first time that the BNBF had taken part in this International Pro show. It is always difficult the first time you plan to compete with a new organisation and there is great anticipation and nerves. I had planned to compete but unfortunately pulled out due to injury and illness. So we went out with a team of three Pro male bodybuilders (Darren Vernon, Raymond James and Kerry Napier) and one female pro bodybuilder (Annie Ottey) and one pro figure competitor (Heather Smith), this is the first time the BNBF had given a Pro card to a figure competitor.

The trip out was pretty uneventful and as always was a relief to get to the official hotel as it feels like the first step out the way. I was last to arrive so the team were there in full and in high spirits although tired from the journey. Nigel takes the British team posing very seriously and spends a lot of time making sure everyone in the team really is showing themselves to the best of their ability. Nigel is a hard task master especially with the Pro’s as he expects then to take criticism on the chin and come back better. He very quickly got the first posing session planned and for us old Pros we knew what to expect but for the new pros it was a baptism of fire and they were in for a shock. They had twice daily posing practices from arrival and all steadily improved although none of us can twist and turn like the master himself.
Guy gave some final advice to anyone who wanted it with regards to carbing up and water manipulation he has been looking after this part of a lot of our diets for numerous years and seems to have mastered it. I am not sure if they all took the advice given or not but everyone did what they thought was right and all looked the best they could. I did however seem to be playing mum to Darren who couldn’t relax he had planned a trip to Washington centre to shop and sight see the day before the show and I sent him to his room to relax and not use up all his carbs before the comp. The night before the comp Kerry and Raymond had to talk Darren out of going out for a meal. He was convinced he was not full enough even though Nigel Myself and Guy had all told him he didn’t need any more carbs. Darren seemed to be the most nervous but he seemed to bond with Heather and she seemed to manage to keep him relaxed. The camaraderie between the new Pros was great and they were very supportive of each other. Lee Ottey was a great asset to the team and became the team tanner and I think he tanned up almost the whole team. Andrew Jackson dealt with organising taxis which proved to be a nightmare as they were very unreliable and expensive this is something we have now learnt and I would think car hire would be a better option. We were lucky that some of the Americans were happy to help out by giving us lifts to and from the venue.
The event itself seemed to be very well organised and we were all made to feel very welcome. The testing in place was first class with every athlete polygraphed and top 3 urine tested. All the athletes got T-shirts and supplement samples a really nice touch. The lighting at the event was as it should be and allowed the athletes to present themselves properly. The facilities backstage were great with lots of space and good organisation.
As I had pulled out I was asked to judge so myself and Nigel Davis were both representing Britain on the judging panel.
The competition was very well run and ran very smoothly, the standard was very high and as Nigel and I weren’t judging we sat and watched with interest. The figure classes were very impressive the first class on was novice figure and we were really impressed with the standard of the top competitors they would have not looked out of place in the Pro figure class. The winner of the amateur men was awesome and would have given the pros a run for their money I am sure he will be one to watch for next year.
The pro classes were of a really high standard first up was Pro figure and these girls were in great condition and had had taken seriously the criteria of having abs and separation in the legs. The girl who eventually won the show Naomie Murdock had great abs and legs although had she been harder could have easily been physique the runner up Yenny Polancowas exquisite and very professional she had less muscular legs and I thought was a perfect representative of a figure competitor. Heather Smith our British competitor was 9th and looked very good and her posing practice had paid of as she presented herself really well, Heather had great biceps and quads. To improve her placing she would need to be slightly tighter and work on back width and shoulder development. Next up was Pro Women and and was so impressed with the top three they were shredded have never seen condition like this ever in natural female bodybuilding. The winner Maria Carolina Davis was inspirational she was muscular and hard with very feminine lines and her posing was incredible she is probably the best female natural I have seen since Nancy Andrews. Runner up Karly Green was just as hard and had great quality muscle both these girls had striated glutes and rock hard hamstrings very unusual in natural female bodybuilders , it is great to be inspired by two such awesome athletes and sets new levels for us to achieve. Annie was 7th in this class and again like Heather presented herself really well with polished posing and a great routine. Annie has great basic structure and is well balanced she just needs to add more muscle to her frame, I did also feel that having seen her the days before the comp she looked a little bloated in the mid section.

The largest Pro class was the Pro men with 21 athletes in one class. This class was a judging nightmare with so many good physiques but in my opinion not a clear winner. When the class came on the favourite Kareem Petteway looked like he would be the one to beat however very quickly he lost detail in his upper body and started to lift his shoulders giving him a narrow appearance he did however still have the best legs on stage. Kareem(Reemo) was given best poser and boy he deserved that his routine was incredible in a class of his own. Another athlete that stood out initially was David Lovelace he had a massive amount of muscle but his legs were lacking in comparison to his upper body and he was a bit long in the torso. I was drawn to Ben Royer who in my opinion had a probably the best balance of the day with great condition and mass, he had a rugged physique and worked really hard throughout the 50mins the guys were on stage I thought he was excellent and in my opinion was hard done to with a 5th place finish however the competition was very hard as everyone had strengths and weaknesses so judges preference would come into play a lot. The British competitors were competitive, Kerry Napier finished 16th. Kerry was unfortunate that as the guys were kept at the side of the stage for an extended period due to the tough competition in the women’s classes, he had lost the pump in his muscles when he walked on he looked weak and it took him a bit time before he started to look competitive which was probably too late for him to climb to a more realistic place. Kerry was in great condition and had great legs his weakness is his chest which was more obvious when you had so many full pecs on stage. Raymond was the opposite from Kerry he walked on and immediately caught you eye with his confidence, he did however lack stage fitness and his lack of posing practice was apparent as he didn’t pose his legs very often and kept forgetting to lift his torso to show his shape he occasionally showed signs of brilliance and when he did he could have been among the top spots but these moments were so momentary that the judges more than likely missed them. Raymond finished in 7th place and as always did a great posing routine. After a tough time from Nigel in posing practice Darren was totally professional on stage he never relaxed and held every pose. His condition was excellent and he had great chest and shoulders with great hamstrings. I am glad we all gave him a tough time not letting him go into Washington or go out for a meal as he was bang on. Darren being one of the smaller competitors was being named the giant killer. He had a great debut and now has a massive reputation to live up to. It was great moment when Darren was announced the winner and he rushed off stage to get his BNBF Jacket before being presented his trophy we were all really proud of him.
After the comp we were invited to go to the after show get together as none of us knew where we were going Justin took some of us with Ben and Chipper Tennesen (who had come along to watch the show and meet up with the British team) running some of the others. Justin who was self appointed chauffeur for some of us organised for runner up Reemo to bring the competitors along as they were waiting for Darren to get his drug test. It was great to see them arrive at the restaurant, Darren with trophy in hand. The pleasure watching them tuck into their food was great. We headed back to the hotel and believe the competitors stayed up for a long time eating and reliving their experiences.
The next morning we all headed our separate ways I hope everyone enjoyed the experiences and I look forward to next season and new Pros and another BNBF team trip. As a whole we were very happy with the IFPA organisation and the way the competition was run the IFPA is going from strength to strength in Natural bodybuilding and hopefully the BNBF will work alongside the IFPA to help promote natural bodybuilding both here in Britain and Internationally.