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There has been a Bodybuilding Contest around August time in Gravesend for many years now but its status has increased considerably since the running was taken over by Steve Avery and his partner. This year’s event on 28th August had 65 competitors and there were some real quality physiques on display. There was a reasonable turnout of women competitors — not as many as we would like but a significant improvement on many recent shows. The Star of the Show was Harold Marillier and we wanted to see his condition just 3 weeks before he was planning to go off to the IFBB Pro Show in Texas. The open Men’s Classes were divided into Under and Over 200 lbs, with our main interest in the Over 200 lbs.
We confine our detailed report to the two main men’s classes. In the U200 lb Class there were six physiques none of whom would have been out of place at the EFBB Finals. Judging this line-up was by no means easy but in the end, I think the judges got it right. In 6th place was Robbie Anchant. He was the shortest in the class with a good shape and plenty of mass but he needed to be much harder. He used two swords in his posing routine which had too many Kung Fu type movements. Did he lose points for using props? In 5th was Simon Yates with a very well-balanced physique. He had no real faults — he just needs to grow. The 4th spot went to Andrew Shaw with a good shape and reasonable condition but with a bit more mass and a little more sharpness he would do better. The 3rd place was Trevor Chung, a very experienced competitor with an awesome upper body with massive arms and delts and a very small waist. But he seriously needs more leg mass. Into 2nd came Mark Povey with good shape, size, balance and condition. Overall he was very good. The only problem was that Doug Kelly was better. Everything was right for Doug — good shape, size and condition and he had the best overall balance. He just needs to carry on growing to become great.
The Over 200 lbs line-up was also of high standard but not quite as good as the lighter men. There were seven in this class. Nigel Watts was 7th. He had a good enough shape but he needed to be harder and then he could have competed in the U 200 lb class. His tan was not dark enough. The 6th place went to Garfield Skinner. He seemed very happy, with a continuous smile on his face. He has a good shape but needed to be much harder. Our own Danny Poole from The Forest Gym was 5th He is much improved but still needs more leg mass and to be harder. With his bone structure he can carry a lot of weight and he needs to pile it on and hit the stage like a Tank. The 4th spot went to Dave Talbot. He has good shape and size but still needs to gain some more mass and come in harder. Into 3rd came Serge Camou. He has plenty of muscle but he needs to watch his waist, which is starting to bulge a bit even though overall his waist is quite small. Could have been sharper. It was quite a struggle to separate the first two Troy Brown and Darren Briggs, both of whom have been getting advice from Harold. Darren was bigger and slightly harder than Troy but overall Troy presented the better package. Primarily, it was Darren’s failings that gave the decision to Troy. Darren stands awkwardly on stage with his feet far too wide spread; his posing needs to be improved to show off his physique to the full; and Darren has a fairly bad pec tear and a bit of gyno, which needs to be treated. But nothing should be taken away from Troy who has gained a staggering 20 kgs of muscle in the last 12 months Darren is young and has tremendous potential — his primary concern must be the long-term damage to his chances that the pec tear could cause.
Troy went on to also win the Overall title. Troy is very modest about his achievements but he was overjoyed at these, his first ever contest wins.
The Show had three Stars. Stan The Man with his comedy posing. Wendy McCready and Harold Marillier. Wendy was looking very good with a dynamic gladiator posing routine. Harold was in his best ever condition. He was still 3 weeks away from his Texas show and will harden up a bit more but he has tightened up his waist and improved the overall balance of his physique while still gaining about 5 lbs in body weight
I have to commend Steve Avery and his staff for the layout of the stage with its completely plain back drop of black curtains which allowed us to see the competitors clearly and allowed the photographers to get good pictures without all kinds of bright adverts interfering with the background.
Overall a great show; well organised and smooth running. But some sections of the audience were obviously semi-dead or totally dead The compere tried repeatedly to communicate with them via a microphone and a medium but it was an uphill struggle.
Read a full report in the next issue of The Beef.
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