Forest Gym Newsletter - December 2011

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Although we have been somewhat remiss in updating this site, the last year has been very busy in The Forest Gym.. We have had more members than ever before and this has allowed us to maintain our membership fees for yet another year.. And in spite of everything — economic collapse and so on — we still have members who want to compete in Bodybuilding and Powerlifting contests.. We summarise activities on the Bodybuilding front in the report below.


Another Bodybuilding couple in the gym have tied the knot — see below.

Harold & Karen Marillier have been on a Carabbean Cruise for two weeks, which is one way of spending the last two weeks in November. Some consulation for us in cold, wet Blignty was that it rained on their last two days in Barbados.  But, I suppose it must rain sometimes in the Carabbean and, of course, they do get hurricanes in summer — rain on performance enhancing drugs, I suppose.


There has been quite a rush of bad news in Bodybuiling recently and we tell you all that we have been able to find out. There is rarely any news in newspapers about Bodybuilding and we have to rely for news on magazines and web sites. Yet, even though we get the headlines, no one seems to bother following up the stories and we are left wondering about the details of what happened next and what was the final outcome.

All the information for this update is being put together and you can expect these pages to change quite a bit in the next few days.

UKBFF Finals 2011

Lorraine Denman

Things are settling down in the gym again after the the climax of the British Bodybuilding Calendar, the UKBFF Finals at the Royal Concert Hall in Nottingham on 22nd & 23rd October. This year Big H had more competitors than ever under his coaching wing — both from inside and outside The Forest Gym. There was so much to do that it was a four day trip for Harold & Karen Marillier. They travelled up early on the Friday to be able to start prep work on Friday afternoon and evening. Harold to check the condition of everyone was ready for Saturday judging or make any little changes that might be necessary to achieve a bit more drying out or a little more fullness for some. Karen was offering her tanning service and there were many bodies to be given their base colourings. It was hard work for both of them right through the week-end.

 

Although I am not an enthusiastic supporter of these two day epic shows, this year there were so many competitors that a two day arrangement was unavoidable if everyone was to be judged properly. Many competitors usually means a full hall and that was certainly true this year. There were good crowds of enthusiastic supporters for all the classes. As usual, there were some complaints about judging failures from supporters of those competitors that had not placed as high as they thought they should have done. But this year the standards were very high in all classes — and some particularly so — so judging was no easy task. Some of those being coached by Harold had been under his wing for a whole year or longer but others had only sought his assistance in the weeks leading up to this show or a qualifier when they were not shaping up as they ought to have been and were in a bit of a panic. Sometimes this was mere paranoia but in other cases it was a true assessment — perhaps caused by an earlier dose of paranoia. In most cases Harold's efforts were rewarded and the results below show just how successful they were. In 2006 — is it really so long ago — the Overall winners of both the Men's and Women's Bodybuilding Classes — Troy Brown & Michelle Jones — came from The Forest Gym and were coached by Harold. He has come close to achieving a similar result again since then and now he is being consulted by bodybuilders from all over Britain — some travelling considerable distances to visit The Forest Gym. Last year Alvin Small won the Overall and René Campbell placed 2nd in the Women's Bodybuilding. This year René was the Winner with a physique of the highest standard. Harold had two competitors in the top five of the Men's O100Kg Class – but not the class winner, the fantastic Cecil Croasdale, who took the Overall.

 

Now some details :

 


Rene Campbell Winner Women's Physique

Women's Classes

 

René Campbell left nothing to chance this year and was a convincing winner of the Women's Bodybuilding. She presented a wonderful package of muscle size, separation, symmetry and overall condition that could not be denied. She is now of a standard that could compare with the best in the world and lots of people in bodybuilding are taking an interest in her career.

There were three others in the Women's Bodybuilding coached by Harold or Karen Marillier.

Chrystal Cormick came in 3rd behind Rosanna Harte. Chrystal has great symmetry but she was unable to hit peak condition as a result of being ill in the weeks before the contest. Tamara Makar was 5th showed great muscle shape and condition and was perhaps unlucky not to have placed higher. Louise Beard was coached by Karen and with a big and heavily muscled physique she looked destined to at least be in the top six. She didn't quite make it placing 7th.

In the Body Fitness, we had Lorraine Denman. Everyone in The Forest Gym was disappointed that she was unplaced in this class. She presented a very tight, neat package but clearly not what the judges were looking for. For many of us the criteria for success in this class remains a mystery. How do you judge so many contrasting feminine shapes? With great difficulty I am sure. But it is not easy to see a consistent pattern from year to year. Doesn't she looks pretty good in the picture on the right?

Men's Classes

Ian Denman Finals 2011

Terry Austin from The Forest Gym qualified for the UKBFF finals via a 1st place in the Classic Class at the South Show in Portsmouth on 8th May. In the Finals he again placed 3rd in the U175 cm. He has a great shape and was in real contest condition. He has tried hard to improve on last year's placing but he is still determined to get just that little bit better and move up the order next year.

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Unit 26

Tilgate Recreation Centre

CRAWLEY

West Sussex

RH10 5PH

 

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Last Updated

 

2nd February 2015

 

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