THE BIG PRO DEBUT

After gaining my IFBB Pro Card in March I wanted to jump straight in and get my feet wet at the next available show.  This turned out to be the Jan Tana, held over two days on August 4-5, 2001 in Lynchburg, Virginia, USA.  As luck would have it, a second competition, the Women’s Extravaganza Pro show was scheduled for August 25^th in New Jersey, USA, allowing me to compete in two shows for the one diet!

Lynchburg, Virginia, with it’s good ‘ol Southern hospitality and laid back pace seems an unlikely choice of location for a Pro show, but it’s the home town of promoter Jan Tana, and this year she decided to bring the competition back to where it started some twelve years ago.  To go along with this, Jan had given the show a ‘theme’; The Wizard of Oz, There’s No Place Like Home!  (Imagine my surprise when I open my contract envelope to find a good sprinkling of tiny coloured foil stars and a pair of red sparkly shoes printed at the top of the page!

As with all my international competitions I planned to arrive in Lynchburg a week prior to the show to allow my body to re-adjust to the different climate and time-zone and to drop any water held on the plane ride.  With most of the other competitors living within the USA or traveling a shorter distance from Europe, it wasn’t until the Wednesday that the population of Lynchburg doubled (just kidding) with the influx of around 80 female bodybuilders, fitness women and Master’s Olympia bodybuilders and their respective entourages.

WEIGHING-IN

Due to the number of competitors in the three Pro divisions as well as there being amateur competition, the pre-judging for the Pro Women’s Bodybuilding and Master’s Olympia was held on the Friday night.  Two hours prior to this getting underway was the competitors meeting and weigh-in.  This was the first opportunity too see all the other women; 22 of us all up representing 10 countries.  Some I knew, either by reputation or having met them on previous trips to the US.  The was a feeling of slight tension in the room as we anxiously waited to find out what the cut-off would be for the various weight classes.  At the Ms International and Ms Olympia, 61kg is the separation point for lightweight and heavyweight classes, but for the Jan Tana (and Women’s Extravaganza) three classes was considered more appropriate for splitting prize money (US$6000 total) and Ms Olympia qualifications (3 spots up for grabs).  The classes were set at U59kg (lightweight), 59 – 63.5kg (middleweight), O63.5kg (heavyweight).  I slotted comfortably into the heavies at 69kg.  With 10 girls, this was the most competitive and biggest class.  The lights and middles had 6 each.

BACK STAGE

I’ve competed in all types of venues, from my first show at the Golden Twin Cinemas in Bendigo to the Stadium of Peace and Hope in Athens, but not until the Jan Tana, in an Elementary School hall.  But, a venue is a venue, and as long as I’m in shape, there’s a stage, a pump-up area and an audience I’m happy.  The dressing room where most of us ‘hung out’, fixing up our tan and make-up, applying oil, or strapping, hooking and securing our posing suits until our section is called was a classroom.  Here the atmosphere was surprisingly relaxed and laid back and reminded me a lot of backstage and the NABBA Universe, where the women helped each other out and chatted before the show.  Not knowing what to expect I was pleasantly surprised at how friendly and helpful the other women were.  Heather Foster and I had met at the Picturing the Modern Amazon exhibition in 2000, and with this being the ‘rookie’ show for both of us, we stuck up an immediate friendship.

PRE-JUDGING

The most unusual thing about the Jan Tana pre-judging (and I hate to say this) was that we were on stage at the time they said we would.  On stage we stood on tiered platforms, waiting to be called for our symmetry comparisons.  Officials stood at either side of the stage with face towels and water.  The heat and humidity in Lynchburg in August is pretty unbearable.  After the symmetry round, we perform our compulsory poses individually and then we all return to the stage for the muscularity comparisons.  Comparisons are called rapidly, without the appearance of much deliberation from the judges, giving the whole event the feeling of an exhibition rather than a competition.  Contrary to what people might think, the Pro ranks are a lot more relaxed than the amateurs. 

FINALS

The finals for the Jan Tana were held in an auditorium at one of the large local High schools.  The temperature and humidity had risen even higher than the previous day and the dressing room was like a sauna.  I was 90% happy with how I looked at the pre-judging, but by the finals I had carbed a little more, was a little fuller and looked ‘on’.  I was pretty excited about performing my routine in front of the Jan Tana audience because I knew it was full of people who’ve emailed me over the last few years or who I’ve ‘met’ on my sponsor, Diana the Valkyrie’s chat room.  The response to my posing presentation, in particular the crab ‘most muscular’ poses, was awesome.  The fans love muscle!    I’d achieved what I wanted to do, and that was, make an impression and be remembered.  My posing style tends to be a lot more powerful than the typical slow or ‘dancey ‘style used by the other women.  Heather Foster’s routine, incorporating some funky hip-hop dancing was also very popular with the crowd. 

POSE-DOWN

Only the Top 5 get to do the pose down round, and placing 6^th meant I didn’t get to take the stage again.  You never know how you look compared to the other competitors when you are standing on stage, but after looking at the photo I know my placing was a reflection of my ‘newness’ to the Pro ranks and to the American judges.  Not having come up through the NPC-USA ranks they were unfamiliar with my physique.  Now I believe it is a matter of coming into shows in a ‘consistent’ condition to show it wasn’t a matter of ‘fluking it’ on the day and to make that ‘look’ synonymous with the name Christine Envall.  Looking at where each woman placed it appears there is no one particular ‘look’ that is being chosen as the ‘gold standard’.  It is more a case that each woman presents her own unique look and the rewards come from presenting that look consistently at contest time.

2001 JAN TANA RESULTS

*  Qualify for Ms Olympia

ON THE ROAD AGAIN

As quickly as the bodybuilders descended on Lynchburg they departed once more, leaving only a few stragglers finishing up with video and photo shoots the day after the show.

For the three weeks between the competitions Troy and I headed up to Marietta in central Pennsylvania to stay with our friend Sam Wiggins, whom I’d first met at the ’97 NABBA World championships in Athens.  While I was there I made another posing video with Women’s Physique World.  For me, Marietta was the perfect hide-away to concentrate on training and cardio (there wasn’t much else to do).  I tightened up a lot more between the shows, obtaining a condition I’d never seen on myself previously.  My skin was thinner than it had ever been, allowing the striations to show through in every muscle group and the heat brought out some of the most ‘freaky’ vascularity I’ve ever achieved.

WOMEN’S EXTRAVAGANZA PRO SHOW

Held in the ballroom of the Sheraton Meadowlands Plaza Hotel in New Jersey, the Women’s Extravaganza Pro Show, Strength Show and Women’s Amateur show was an all girls affair.  A whole ‘extravaganza’, only featuring female athletes proved very popular, attracting a large (mostly male) audience.

Only 14 Pro women fronted for this show, 2 light-weighs, 4 middle-weights and 8 heavy weights.  For a lot of the other International competitors the three weeks between shows was impractical in terms of travel, time off work, money and other commitments and couldn’t compete.  There were a few new faces making up the numbers, but other than local ‘gal Heather Foster getting up and winning the placing remained pretty much the same.

2001 WOMEN’S EXTRAVAGANZA PRO RESULTS

* Qualify for Ms Olympia

One of my favourite memories from this show was standing on stage during the comparison rounds, looking down and seeing judge Rich Gaspari staring at my quads (instead of looking at the women in the call-out) and then giving me a huge smile.  Rich Gaspari was my favourite Pro male bodybuilder back when I first got into bodybuilding in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, so that was a huge buzz!