RICHARD GRATTAN in incredible shape takes the Lightweight & Overall 2012 NPA YORKSHIRE titles on his NPA debut!
NPA YORKSHIRE CHAMPIONSHIPS 2012
Report & Photography by Michael Phillips & Fivos Averkiou
Held at Holmfirth Civic Hall, on Saturday May 26th, it is fair to say that it was a busy day for the NPA’s first show of the 2012 season. An absolute sell-out, standing room only, a record entry of 67 competitors, and an amazing standard, with all the classes very competitive - and it was a very, very hot day too! The competition was sponsored like never before, and many thanks to all the sponsors who were so generous with their support, particularly Ian Duckett and the good people at Udo’s Choice, who gave supplements worth hundreds of £££ to the top 2 in each class.
Main competition sponsors:
IAN DUCKETT and www.bodyindesign-nutrition.co.uk
UDO’S CHOICE - www.savant-health.com
Many thanks also to the following class sponsors:
Jenny Garside, 5 x British Trained Figure Champion; Cheryl Myers, 5 x WNBF Pro World Champion; Fivos Averkiou, Photographer; Kirt Nandakumar’s Body Transformation Gym, Huddersfield; Steve Howarth, Double Masters British & World Champion; Helder Barroso and Xtreme Muscle Clothing; Les Willis’ Muscle Factory Gym, Lancaster; Aaron Taylor’s Sovereign Fitness Gym, Shelley; Fox Mouldings Ltd.
The competition was opened with a tremendous guest posing display from the double UIBBN / INBF World Champion JOHN HEATON who gave a very polished posing performance, and was in superb shape too.
On with the contest!
Juniors Under 21’s
Very impressive debuts for the top 2 competitors in the Juniors, both very good, and both very different physiques. Adam Healey took the title; thick, dense muscle, huge legs with great shape front and back, especially the sweep on the outer thigh, Adam’s only weakness is a lack of natural V shape, but that’s it! Very impressive win for Adam, and he was pushed all the way by the superb lines of Kristian Kerr. Great taper, shape, and balance, excellent condition, and muscles full with it; in particular, Kris’ back shots were outstanding. Daniel Paulucy was disappointed in third but he shouldn’t have been, as he got 11 of the 15 third places available. Good structure and shape, excellent front lat spread and good on all the compulsories – if Dan gets a bit sharper he can climb up the placings. Scott Dickson in fourth, Kais Hussain in fifth, and Arron Morrison in sixth, were all in good shape – just more time, with more hard and heavy training, required to get the development needed to challenge the top 3. An excellent start to the competition!
1 - Adam Healey
2 - Kristian Kerr
3 - Daniel Paulucy
4 - Scott Dickson
5 - Kais Hussain
6 - Arron Morrison
Ladies Physique
Top class line-up of 6 in the Ladies Physique, and it was dominated by Kelly Freeman, who was in incredible shape! Very muscular, Kelly is on a role at the moment, and this was her second title in the space of 7 days. In particular, her side chest and side triceps shots are world beaters, and overall she was an outstanding winner. Michela Rotella displayed a physique which showed her outstanding shape and proportions to take the runner-up spot in her first contest, with Rosie McKenzie in third. Rosie was more impressive when she won the Mike Williams Classic in 2010, and with her genetics, has far more muscle than many of her competitors, but she wasn’t at her best here today. One point behind was Jane Miller in fourth; Jane was muscular, with good development and separation and has good aesthetics too. Rebecca Adams had great abs, and with Rosie was the biggest in the contest; both are capable of winning the class without a doubt. In sixth was Sandra Mounsey, with good lines, shape, and taper.
1 - Kelly Freeman
2 - Michela Rotella
3 - Rosie McKenzie
4 - Jane Miller
5 - Rebecca Adams
6 - Sandra Mounsey
Men’s Heavyweights 78kg+
Anybody who saw last year’s NPA Yorkshire will remember seeing just how much potential Paul Roberts had, but last year he was too heavy and placed fourth. In the past he’s weighed well over 120kg, but for this year’s Yorkshire he came in at 86.9kg, down a few kilos on last year, and the improvements were there for all to see. Blessed with a great structure, Paul was big, and hard, with thick, dense muscle all over, his legs especially are world class. He took the title with 11 of the available 15 first places, the other four going to Ian Munro. At 6ft 2in, Ian is a formidable presence on stage; as a former winner, he had returned with nothing else in mind but repeating that feat. He was in fantastic shape; great chest and leg development, with hamstrings as good as you’ll see anywhere. Ian was more conditioned than Paul, but even he, at his very best, had to concede defeat to Paul, a young 26 year old in only his fourth contest, and who still trains at home! In third place, with a near clean sweep of all the third places, was Gareth Couldrey. In top condition, and another competitor with great leg development, Gareth was an outstanding third, in a top 3 of Britain standard. Fourth place went to Faisal Naeem, the Novice Champion of 2 years previous. Faisal was disappointing; he has the attributes to be a top line competitor, but was a couple of weeks away from his best shape. Dan Awolola in fifth needs to master his condition too, as he has plenty of mass, but like Faisal, wasn’t quite ready today to challenge the top 3. Sixth went the 2008 NPA NW Junior Champion Luke Birchall. While the top 3 were all in superb shape, its fair to say Luke, like Faisal and Daniel, was just a bit out of condition, though all 3 did have plenty of mass. Luke has a lot of potential, and needs to learn from how Paul Roberts came in a lot better prepared this year as opposed to last year. All in all, an excellent class!
1 - Paul Roberts
2 - Ian Munro
3 - Gareth Couldrey
4 - Faisal Naeem
5 - Daniel Awolola
6 - Luke Birchall
Men’s Heavyweight Novices
James Nuttall climbed from fourth last year to win the Novice Heavyweights this year, and was very happy about it! Wide shoulders, tapered waist, good mass and separation too; James was pushed all the way by newcomer Jon-Paul Vital, with a really pleasing physique that looked good in all comparisons, with superb shape, symmetry, and proportions. Third place went to Francesco Pignatti, who has the mass and shape to win a Novice class, he just needs more refinement; he continues to look better at every show he does, downside was that his tan was shocking, especially as it was so hot! Fourth went to Marvin Thomas, if his torso development can be brought up to his excellent arms and legs, Marvin could place higher. Fifth was Craig Martin, good muscular physique, with a big but smooth Dominic Haley in sixth – Dom could win this but needs to sharpen up quite a bit to challenge top spot.
1 - James Nuttall
2 - Jon-Paul Vital
3 - Francesco Pignatti
4 - Marvin Thomas
5 - Craig Martin
6 - Dominic Haley
7 - Paul Ullathorne
8 - Christopher Hartley
9 - Kyle Dalton, Tonie Brown, Emil Moscinski
Men’s Middleweights Under-78kg
Excellent line-up of 5 competitors. At the weigh-in, Paul Ennis tipped the scales at 72.5kg, and anyone who knows Paul, knows that his best weight is around the 70kg mark, which is what he weighed last year, and he was sensational last year. Even he knew he was too heavy, but there’s no denying that when it comes to mass with great genetics and shape, Paul is arguably the best there is. Tshala’s genetic shape is one of a tiny waist, with washboard abs, and a real taper to behold. He will never have Paul’s mass, but it’s very rare that Tshala is anything less than in top shape. Today he was fantastic shape, and when I first saw the class on-stage, I must admit I thought Tshala would be a clear winner. It turned out he was, but it would be remiss of me not to say what happened on the day. Unfortunately, when I got the result of the class, it read Paul Ennis as the winner, with Tshala Kabala in the runner-up spot. This was a simple human error, and Paul was announced as the winner, and in the photos he’s there with the first place trophy. It was only 2 days later when I studied all the judging sheets that this mistake was noticed, and after Tshala and Paul were contacted, I announced on the NPA’s Facebook group page that the actual result was Tshala in first. Both Tshala and Paul were brilliant over this and I can’t praise them enough for simply accepting that a mistake had been made, and I look forward to seeing them both on-stage again at the NPA Britain Finals. Third place was Glenn Branch; rock hard, balanced development, Glenn was superb but still needs a bit more time in the gym to challenge the top 2. Debutant Phil Brown got all the fourth places, he was razor sharp, very impressive in his first contest, with Kieron Carew in fifth, good legs and arms, but in a very tough class, Kieron needs more quality torso development to climb the placings.
1 - Tshala Kabala
2 - Paul Ennis
3 - Glenn Branch
4 - Philip Brown
5 - Kieran Carew
Men’s Lightweight Novices
Deep muscle separations especially in his abs and legs helped a very impressive Alex Pattrick take the Lightweight Novice title. Alex has loads of potential, being long limbed, and was in great shape, not shredded, but rock hard, there’s a big difference! He looked a picture of health too! The real contest was the other places, and in second was Ashley Lloyd, a good muscular physique, with the very symmetrical and balanced physique of Ru Anderson in third. Alex Foreman with his superb shoulders to waist tapered physique got fourth, one point behind was Darren Fulton, good in all the compulsories, and another point behind was Mark Spinks, very good arms and legs. Overall a very competitive class, from the runner-up spot downwards.
1 - Alex Pattrick
2 - Ashley Lloyd
3 - Ru Anderson
4 - Alex Foreman
5 - Darren Fulton
6 - Mark Spinks
7 - Adam Johnson
8 - Stephen Frost, Tom March, Kirt Nandakumar
Ladies Trained Figure
Excellent line-up of 10 girls, in what is acknowledged as the toughest class to judge, at least by the judges! Some competitors come in too lean, and could arguably go in the Physique class, but lack muscle size; some come in with the right condition for the class (good muscle shape, clearly showing signs of going to the gym, with the right trained and toned look), and some enter in good shape, but need more muscle. A real headache for the judges, but today, there was no doubt that newcomer Penny Beaumont dominated the class, with a shapely, tapered, and balanced figure which stood out! There was a tie initially for second, the nod going to Tracey Moreton, with third going to Zena Chatterton. Fourth to sixth places went respectively to Tara Taylor, Angela Gee, and Kim Crawford.
1 - Penny Beaumont (and best first-timer)
2 - Tracey Moreton
3 - Zena Chatterton
4 - Tara Taylor
5 - Angela Gee
6 - Kim Crawford
7 - Sonia Armitage
8 - Aiva Gevele, Carolyn Howe, Caron Chamberlain
Men’s Masters Over 40’s
The Masters class was dominated by the man who placed third last year in his first contest. The time since then has been used in refining the physique of Chris Fortune, as he came in sharper with better muscle separation to go with the undoubted muscle mass and outstanding shape he already had. Runner-up was the remarkable Denton Wilson, at 56 years of age, very close to his best, despite some serious health issues. One point behind Denton was Courtney Smith, it was very close for second and third, with Courtney displaying his tapered V shape, with outstanding abs. Fourth was Brian Barton, excellent arms and abs, needs to improve his posing, and show more confidence on-stage as Brian is well capable of placing higher. Fifth and sixth were Darrell James and Mark Tucker; both have lost a considerable amount of weight to compete, and while both still need a bit more quality to place higher, they have no achieved a lot by improving themselves in a huge way from a physical and health point of view.
1 - Chris Fortune
2 - Denton Wilson (and best over 50)
3 - Courtney Smith
4 - Brian Barton
5 - Darrell James
6 - Mark Tucker
Men’s Lightweights Under-70kg
Making his NPA debut, Richard Grattan was a revelation, and shocked a lot of people with his showing! He peaked perfectly to comfortably win the class; shape, balance, muscle fullness and razor sharp cuts all over his physique, he couldn’t have looked any better! Runner-up spot went to Dean Garratt – structurally a breath-taking physique, and Dean was in very good shape, but was maybe 5% off his best, and this cost him against Richard. Third was Richie Lee, very good upper body, but does lack in leg development, Richie was pushed all the way by Steve Joyner, with a more proportionate physique, but lacking the muscle hardness of Richie. Christopher Allen got fifth, this young man was the smallest in the show, but has a superb physique blessed with a very good structure. Steve Byrne in sixth took home £50 for his best posing performance, and crowd-pleasing display. Both Steve and Christopher simply need more time to develop the muscle required to climb the placings.
1 - Richard Grattan
2 - Dean Garratt
3 - Richie Lee
4 - Steve Joyner
5 - Christopher Allen
6 - Steve Byrne
7 - Tristan Watkins
Overall Novice Winner
1 - ALEX PATTRICK
While James Nuttall looked very good, Alex Pattrick had the edge, and was delighted to take the Overall Novice title.
Men’s Overall Winner
1 - RICHARD GRATTAN
A great win for Richard taking 5 of the 7 first places available! Richard will be a front-runner for the Lightweights at the NPA Britain on this showing without a doubt!
Best Presentation awards
Steve Byrne and Michela Rotella
Judges: Jon Harris, Andrew Palmer, Roy Jones, Mark Oakes, Mark Hesketh, Yoyo Butler, Ian King, and Cheryl Myers.
Back-stage: Phil Rutter, Joe & Jimmy Phillips.
Like all NPA shows, the competition was drug tested to WADA standards – the NPA’s Doping Control Officer is Jonathan Bibb.
This year’s season of shows will all be poly-graphed, and on behalf of the NPA, our poly-graphers are Andrew Armstrong and Patrick Mulligan of Forensic Vetting Ltd. www.forensicvetting.com
As always, many thanks to all who helped make the 22nd NPA Yorkshire Championships such a huge success, bigger than its ever been to be honest, which leaves me with the decision on do we stay at Holmfirth or do we move the show to a bigger venue? Been there, done it, and moved back to Holmfirth, but there’s no doubt we can’t get any more people in to the Holmfirth Civic Hall…decisions, decisions…let’s wait till next year, and decide then! ‘nuff said!
Michael Phillips – Secretary, NPA
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