As most of you will be aware by now, I won the NABBA Masters Class Mr Britain 2013. It was the most significant achievement in my Bodybuilding career and something that I am very proud of. I just wanted to write a little review of the day for those that were unable to make it.
The NABBA Britain was held at the Southport Theatre on the 25 May 2013.
My prep for the Britain had gone well as I was following the same plan as the North West.
The over 40s and over 50s were two of the biggest classes in the competition, with the O40s having16 competitors and the O50s with17. They were all of a very high standard, including two previous Universe competitors (one a winner) in my O50s class.
I was fist informed of this shortly after registration closed and it did knock my confidence a little, also I was drawn number '1' meaning that on stage I would be stood to the extreme right. Not ideal. However, as there was absolutely nothing more I could do to improve my physique, or my on stage location, I just needed to get back into a positive frame of mind. This was helped massively by my training partner Stuart Marsh (I owe the guy a lot) and my wife Wendy who has always been my rock and whom I trust to tell me how it is and not just say what a want to hear (and she said I looked great).
After we were called back stage for the warm up (also known as pumping up) the nerves started to kick in. I found myself looking around at all the great physics and making comparisons about if he’s got bigger shoulders than me or if he’s got less body fat than me etc. Although things like that cant really be helped considering I was just about to be judged!
Then it was show time and we were all called to the stage for our first bit of judging. The judges ask everyone to do 4 quarter turns to our right (so that we are seen from all angles) before we all move off the stage to be called back for our individual routines. An individual routine is where you stand alone on stage and perform a series of poses to music of your choice and lasts around 90 seconds. After we had completed all 17 individual routines we were all called back on stage for what is known as the comparison round.
The comparison round is where two or three competitors are asked to stand next to each other and strike the same poses so that they can be compared to each other. I was called up second and was being compared to Tony Hanson who was the previous Mr Universe winner. I tried my hardest on stage to get the best our of every pose, but as this turned out to be my only comparison round I did leave the stage feeling like I wished I had done more.
Then it was all over. The judging was finished for the day, and we had to wait until the evening show to find out the results. This was in about seven hours time!
In The Evening Show all 17 competitors are initially brought on stage to stand in line for everyone to see. Then there is a pose down which lasts anywhere between 30 seconds to a minute. This is a bit like the individual round where there is music playing, except with all of us on stage we are just really vying for a good spot to show our stuff. This bit is all for show however as the judging is all over. Then its back in line and the top 6 are called out (in their competing number order) and asked to leave the stage. The 11 remaining competitors are given medals and sadly for them their day is over.
The top 6 are then called back one at a time to do their individual routines again, and once all 6 have performed its back of the stage for the results. Which are as follows -
6th Ray Dixson
5th Andrew Lawley
4th Herbie Chiang
3rd Martin Holroyd
2nd Tony Hanson
1st Paul Rowe (MEEEEEEEEEEEEEE)
I was getting excited just writing that it was such a fantastic feeling to hear my name called out as Mr Britain Masters O50s Champion.
Next up for me is the NABBA World Championships next weekend. I will be updating during the week, but please keep everything crossed as it would be very nice to come home with another trophy!
