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2005 CBBF Canadian BodyBuilding Championships
Date: September 3, 2005
Location: Laval, PQ, Canada
Pictures online at ThePhotoIssue.com: CBBF
Canadian BodyBuilding Championships
OK, OK, I’ve heard it, already. But, for the sake of
it, let’s hear this one more time. "Doug, the site’s called
BodyBuildingLive.com, but it’s been almost a month since the Canadian
BodyBuilding Championships and there’s still no report online from you! What’s
up? Are you slipping? Is this now BodyBuildingDead.com or something?"
As I said, I’ve heard the complaint countless times,
and I take the blame for it, fully. Yes, it’s my fault, but here’s my excuse: I
travel a lot – I mean a lot! For example, I went to Montreal on September 3 to
cover the Canadian Championships, and since then I have been in and out of my car and in
and out of airplanes to meet my various other obligations. Indianapolis; Washington, DC;
Chicago: I’ve been there. Basically, I’ve had no time until now to write the
report, although I did get the pictures of all the winners up on our sister site,
ThePhotoIssue.com, within a day of the show, which was faster than any other site on the
Internet.
But still, there’s no report and many people wanted
one. Plus, the excuse of being busy and having winners’ pictures up a day after the
show only gets you so far, since, obviously, the Canadian BodyBuilding Championships event
is to many fans the most important Canadian bodybuilding event of the year and no one
really cares what my schedule is like.
So, enough with the excuses; finally, I’ve gotten my
chance to sit down, gather my thoughts, and give my overall impressions of the 2005 CBBF
Canadian Bodybuilding Championships – an ultra-successful event promoted by Joe
Spinello. Joe is a former Canadian and World bodybuilding champion, and an IFBB Pro, too.
He is one of the most recognized and respected names in bodybuilding in Quebec, and these
days he’s devoting himself 100% to show promotion.
The event
The Canadian BodyBuilding Championships were held in Laval,
Quebec, just outside Montreal, in the same venue that the Quebec Provincial Championship
were held only a couple of months before, and also promoted by Spinello and just as
successful. Joe told me he used the Quebec Provincial Championships as a "test
run" for the venue – the show went off without any problems, but he learned a
few things to make the Canadian Championships even better. He’s right, things were
better organized for the Canadians. Plus, for the Canadian Championships’ night show
he packed the house – people were sitting in the aisles, it was so full.
I’ve been calling the 2005 Canadian BodyBuilding
Championships a "rock-solid bodybuilding show" from the moment the prejudging
started at 9am on Saturday, September 3. The stage was sparsely decorated: a large black
curtain as a backdrop, a long and narrow podium for the competitors to stand on, and
near-perfect lighting set up by Quebec-based photographer Yves Desbiens. This was a
showcase for competitors – and only the competitors. There was no onstage clutter of
supplement-company banners, no guest-posers, and no other sideshows that would take away
from the main event – some of the finest bodybuilders that this country’s ever
seen (well over 100 of them), lined up on the stage in the various men’s and
women’s categories, all vying for a chance to become a Canadian Champion and the
opportunity to win one of the four coveted IFBB Pro Cards that were up for grabs that
evening (one each for the Overall male and female winners and, also, another for a male
and female competitor if the judges deemed a person worthy, which, at this show,
they did).
Finally, the report
BC's Autumn Raby is the 2005 Women's Canadian BodyBuilding
Champion.
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My goal with this report isn’t necessarily to try and
give an overall impression of all the athletes and the show -- there’s just
too many athletes and the show is too big; instead, it’s to tell you how it all
played out for those Overall titles and two additional IFBB Pro Cards, since that’s
where most of the action was and that’s where most of the fans’ interest lies.
Therefore, that’s what I’m focusing my commentary on.
The Overall title is only selected from the Senior classes
(over age 21), not from the Junior, Masters or Grand Masters classes. For the women, that
means that Quebec’s Marie Thibault, who looked fabulous when winning the over-35
Masters class, and Alberta’s Barbara Stannard, who took home the title for the
first-ever over-50 Grand Masters class, weren’t in the running for the Overall title.
The Overall title was a shoot-out between the Lightweight, Middleweight, and Heavyweight
winners: Alberta’s Carmen Tocheniuk, BC’s Autumn Raby, and Quebec’s Colette
Guimond. These women were three decidedly deserving yet unique winners in their respective
weight classes.
Tocheniuk impressed many when she took the Lightweight
title – she has attractive, flowing physique lines which, I think, probably gave her
the slightest edge over the much more muscular Ellen Partnoy of BC, who took second (a one
point difference separated them in the end). But for the Overall title, Tocheniuk was no
match for Raby’s shape and conditioning and Guimond’s incredible muscle size.
When it came to the Overall title, it was between these two.
In the end, though, while Guimond carried probably more
muscle than any other woman in the show (she is, by far, the most heavily muscled woman
I’ve seen competing at the Canadas), it was Autumn Raby’s fabulous combination
of muscle size, exquisite body shape, and superb definition that helped her carry away the
Overall title, and the first of two IFBB Pro Cards for the female competitors. Raby simply
looked every bit a Canadian Champion onstage, not just in terms of her physique, but also
her presentation, which was one of the best of the show. Autumn also proved that you
don’t have to be the "biggest" to win a bodybuilding show. Bodybuilding is
about size, but also about things like shape, conditioning, and presentation too, which
she nailed. The second IFBB Pro Card obviously went to Guimond. Although she didn’t
capture the Overall title, the judges couldn’t help but reward her for what she
presented that day.
In the men’s competition, Michael Talbert of Quebec
won the Junior title (under 21), Alain Desmarais of Quebec took home the Masters title
(over 40), and Steven Burns of Saskatchewan took home the Grand Masters title (over 50).
They all looked fabulous, but again, like the women, these classes aren’t in
contention for the Overall title, which was between the winners from the eight Senior
classes ranging from Bantamweight (under 143 pounds) to Super-Heavyweight (over 225
pounds).
Quebec's Simon Voyer is the 2005 Canadian Men's BodyBuilding
Champion.
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As is customary, for the judging for the Overall title the
competitors were lined up on stage in ascending order by weight class: Denis Pednault of
Quebec (Bantamweight), Gord Suel of Saskatchewan (Lightweight), Ghyslain Lacasse of Quebec
(Welterweight), Brooke Maskell of Ontario (Light-Middleweight), Sandy Rideout of New
Brunswick (Middleweight), Dan Dufresne of Alberta (Light-Heavyweight), Simon Voyer of
Quebec (Heavyweight), and Fouad Abiad of Ontario (Super-Heavyweight).
As impressive as every winner was in his own weight class,
three stood out in the comparisons for the Overall title: Dufresne, Voyer, and Abiad.
These were the competition’s biggest competitors, but they also sported the best
conditioning and overall shape. The Overall title was fought for between these three.
In the end, though, there can only be one winner, and that
person was Simon Voyer of Quebec. My understanding is that the majority of the judges were
in favor of Voyer’s winning, resulting in no controversy when awarding the Overall
title and the first IFBB Pro Card. Voyer’s size, shape, and condition was close to
flawless, making him a tough competitor to beat and a crowd favorite when he raised his
trophy in victory.
The awarding of the second IFBB Pro Card, though, was
fraught with a little more controversy, not because the wrong person won, but because
either Dufresne or Abiad could have taken it. As a result, people in the audience
certainly had their favorites as to whom they would have picked, as did the judges (I
understand that in the end it was a very close call at the judges’ desk). Still, as
everyone knows, there can only be so many winners in a night and the rest must simply try
again next year. Dufresne, who also won the Best Poser award and can certainly make a name
in the pro ranks with his superb onstage presentation, was overcome with emotion when his
name was called out as the second IFBB Pro Card recipient. Dan’s been competing at
the national level for a number of years now and this was obviously a dream come true for
him.
The wrap-up
As I said, that second IFBB Pro Card could have gone to
Dufresne or Abiad, and if you talk to each judge you’ll probably get a
slightly different reason for what separated them. One thing that’s important to
remember, though, is something that veteran bodybuilding journalist Garry Bartlett often
reminds competitors of in person and in print – that the most rewarding win most
Canadian competitors ever experience is the Overall title at the CBBF Canadian
BodyBuilding Championships, something Joe Spinello, who’s won the title himself, will
attest to. I suspect that if Fouad Abiad shows up in the same condition, or perhaps
further improved (he won the Heavyweight title in 2004), he’ll be the odds-on
favorite to win the whole thing in 2006. Of course, he won’t be the only one there;
obviously, others are bent on taking home top honors as well, so the competition should be
fierce again.
So, here’s looking forward to the 2006 CBBF Canadian
BodyBuilding Championships, which will be held next year in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, where
more Overall titles will be won and more IFBB Pro Cards will be awarded. Let’s just
hope I’m not as late with that report as I was with this one.
...Doug Schneider
das@bodybuildinglive.com
Full results for the CBBF
Canadian BodyBuilding Championships can be found at the official website of the
Canadian BodyBuilding Federation.
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