An amazing MATTY ALWELL wins the 2012 NPA South-East Novice & Overall titles!
2012 NPA SOUTH-EAST CHAMPIONSHIPS
Report and photography by Michael Phillips & Fivos Averkiou
Held at The Medway Hall, Angel Leisure Centre, in Tonbridge, on Sunday September 9th.
Main show sponsors:
MAXIRAW (www.maxiraw.com) and UDO’S CHOICE (udoschoice.co.uk), who both gave £££’s worth of supplements and clothing as prizes. Many thanks to both!
Now in its ninth year, this year’s NPA South East was another successful show for the NPA. In a lot of ways it was an eye opener; there were some fantastic posing displays, both male and female, with some first timers posing brilliantly! To pose well is such a bonus to a competitive bodybuilder, as you can have the best physique, but it won’t guarantee you’ll win if you’re in a close battle and especially if your main opponent poses like Frank Zane! In fact, this year’s Overall Champion was a first timer in the Novice class, and displayed a physique which caused laughter and comments of disbelief as he stripped off at the weigh-in, he was that good! But he posed like a true Novice, whereas the competitor who placed third in the Novices, who was also a first timer, posed majestically. The Overall battle saw the Novice Champion take the title, and it remains to be seen if Matty Alwell can follow up this win in his first ever contest with more victories to even more acclaim, because, without a doubt, this former Champion sprinter certainly announced his arrival into competitive bodybuilding at this year’s NPA South East in a big way!
On with the report!
Juniors
1 – Jorge Darkadas
2 – Charlie Timberlake
Two outstanding Juniors. Jorge was 100% ready for this contest; outstanding muscle separation, full muscled and rock hard, great tan too, he was peaked to perfection and deserved his victory in his first ever contest. Runner-up Charlie has immense potential, great shape, plenty of muscle mass, just came in too heavy on the day, so if he can drop a few pounds getting ready for the Britain Finals it will be very interesting and certainly benefit him.
Men’s Middleweights U-78kg
1 – Robert Rodney
2 – Kalbir Cheema
3 – Toby Hines
4 – Ollie Boreham
100% first places for NPA debutant Robert Rodney, very impressive showing. Rob’s upper body in particular looking like it was chiselled out of a block of ice, outstanding front stance showing his great shape, with washboard abs. Runner up was Kal Cheema, much improved on last year, Kal’s chest and back were very impressive, excellent condition too. Third was Toby Hines; plenty of muscle, Toby did get some second places, and overall was carrying more muscle than Kal, his back very impressive, but whereas Kal was in top condition for the contest, Toby was 10% off which restricted his overall conditioning and muscle separation especially on his legs. Fourth was Ollie Boreham in good shape, but needs another 12 months hard training before being able to challenge those above him.
Men’s Lightweights U-70kg
1 – Darren Mitchell
Although there were 3 Lightweights in the programme, 2 of them were too heavy, and went in the Middleweights, which left Darren as the only Lightweight. He looked excellent; very good lat spread highlighting his taper, rock hard condition with a chiselled mid section, Darren knows he needs more size on his legs, which by his own admission are behind his upper body, but overall Darren has progressed and improved his physique from last year without a doubt, and will be looking to do well at the NPA Britain Finals.
Ladies Physique
1 – Chiara D’Arcangelo
2 – Nicola Joyce
3 – Frances Heywood
Comfortable win for Chiara; while she has a small frame, her arms, back and chest are very muscular and impressive, but she wasn’t quite in the shape she displayed at last year’s NPA South West, so she does need to go up a notch for the Britain Finals. Runner-up Nicola, had the best lines, taper, and overall aesthetic look in the class, and did get some first places, just needs to be fraction sharper; Frances was in her best ever shape, she’s always lean and muscular and continues to improve.
Masters
1 – John Swaby
2 – Wes Clarke
3 – Andy Turner
4 – Christopher Walker (& best over 50)
5 – Dave Cotton
6 – Stephen Male
When you have 2 outstanding Champions like John and Wes going head to head for the umpteenth time, you know you’re in for a treat; Wes took round one, displaying his familiar outstanding shape and symmetry to great effect, yet John was in the better overall shape, and he took rounds two and three. Wes was about 90% at his best, and lacked the final sheen that John had, and there’s no doubt John deserved his win, and added to his collection of titles, of which there must be at least 4 South East ones among them. John, at 70.5kg, was very sharp, and could arguably come in a few pounds heavier with the same condition – it’s a fine line! Third to sixth were all first timers, and a clear third was Andy Turner, with plenty of upper body size and impressive abs; fourth was the best over 50, Chris Walker, with fifth and sixth Dave Cotton and Stephen Male. Chris, Dave, and Stephen were all in good shape, and with another 12 months training could crack the top 3.
Men’s Heavyweights 78kg+
1 – Martin Petro
2 – Marc Ramis
3 – Graham Miller
4 – Sam Cockle
Martin Petro was a clear winner in the Heavies, you can virtually see the heavy training in his physique which is so packed with dense muscle. Martin is getting sharper from contest to contest as he prepares for the UIBBN Worlds later in the year. Martin is also a great poser, but for some odd reason cut his routine short. Maybe it was because he knew how good a routine Marc Ramis was going to perform! For his first contest, Marc posed brilliantly, showing an outstanding physique with great aesthetic lines and impressive abs. Third was Graham Miller, biggest in the class, good combination of size and separation; fourth was 20 year old Sam Cockle, who is just going to be too old for the Juniors at the Britain; he’s obviously training hard and heavy as all young 20 year olds should, and showed everyone his potential, but for today, he wasn’t quite in the condition to challenge for top spot.
Trained Figure
1 – Tamasin Mallia (& best first timer)
2 – Joanne Dudley
3 – Sasha Larner
4 – Nura Alwan
5 – Kelly Sephton
6 – Tina Billingsley
The battle for first in the Figure class was clearly between Tamasin and Joanne. Both superb lines, shape, and taper, with the ideal toned and trained look that is vital for the class. In her first contest, a delighted Tamasin took the title with Joanne, who surely has the best V taper in the NPA on the back shots, a close second. Sasha Larner, in her first contest, was quite lean with her conditioning, and would benefit from a little increase in bodyweight, which would improve her trained and toned look as opposed to her muscular and lean look – she also gave a fantastic posing dispay! Fourth was Nura Alwan, who was in good shape, just needs to be a bit tighter to challenge those above her; Kelly Sephton was fifth, needs a bit more muscle development, as her Figure on this showing was ideal for the Bikini class, she gave a great posing display, with sixth going to Tina Billingsley, in good shape.
Novices
1 – Matty Alwell (& best first timer)
2 – Stefan Kuruc
3 – Marc Willetts
4 – Jerome Sawyer
5 – Mark Spinks
6 – Justin Shepherd
7 – David Barros
8 – Harj Mann & Krasimir Uzunov
I’ve already mentioned Matty Alwell, and there’s no doubt that here is a Champion who can go a lot further in the sport. He has everything, you name it, all was there, from the world class arms and legs to his mountain range of a back, and the photos don’t him justice tbh! He posed like a true Novice, and looked pale though, so with those aspects improved Matty will be a very formidable Novice at the NPA Britain Finals! Runner up and drier than the Sahara was Stefan Kuruc – incredible mass and muscular detail, both top 2 Novices were very impressive indeed. Third to fifth were all tied initially and only on count back did third place go to Marc Willetts, who gave a fantastic posing display, particularly good lat spread; fourth was Jerome Sawyer, great front stance, outstanding abs, excellent overall development; fifth was Mark Spinks, another outstanding physique, poor tan though. All were in great shape, very complete physiques all 3 of them, all of them deserved third place, with a much improved Justin Shepherd in sixth - it must be said that this was the best ever Novice top 6 in an NPA show yet!
Men’s Overall
1 – MATTY ALWELL
2 – John Swaby
3 – Martin Petro
4 – Robert Rodney
5 – Jorge Darkadas
A resounding victory for Matty Alwell, pushed all the way by the other class winners, but a well deserved win for the former Champion sprinter who first took up the weights when he was injured and he never went back to Athletics!
Best Presentation awards: Marc Ramis and Sasha Larner, who won £50 each!
Judges: Mark Oakes, Heather Smith, Karen Mason, Richard Walker, and Michael Phillips.
Like all NPA shows, the competition was drug tested to WADA standards – the NPA’s Doping Control Officer is Jonathan Bibb.
Special thanks to Carl & Carol Streeter, who were such a big help not only on the day but in the weeks up to the contest, of course Carol trains at The Medway, so from an NPA point of view was in the perfect position to make sure the lighting was good etc…and that all was well with the venue.
The poly-graphers for the NPA are Andrew Armstrong and Patrick Mulligan of Forensic Vetting Ltd. www.forensicvetting.com
Back-stage: Carl Zambra.
Class sponsors: Fivos Averkiou, photography; Christopher Lambert, dvd filming; Bulldog Leisure Wear.
Thanks to all who were there supporting the ninth NPA South East!
Michael Phillips
Secretary - NPA
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