This was going to be a trip of many firsts for me. First time competing outside the UK, first time representing Britain, first time competing for a team and not just for myself, first time of seeing the pros compete... so as you can imagine I was very excited!! (And nervous!)
The Build Up to the Olympia
One week after the BNBF British finals I received a call from Vicky to invite me to represent the team in the Masters Ladies, over 40s (or as nicknamed by my husband Dave, 'The Old Tarts') at the Natural Olympia. This was a tough decision as it meant a further 8 weeks of dieting, having been dieting since almost the beginning of the year. Fortunately I had not strayed far from my diet following the final as I had already had one further competition to face even before this invitation. One week later, after much deliberating, having been advised not to do the comp, told it was my decision, and encouraged to do it for the opportunity that had been put my way; I decided that I HAD to go for it. I know I would regret turning it down and would always wonder how I could have done. So, I called Vicky and eagerly accepted the opportunity to travel with the team and represent Britain.
went through the usual emotions we all experience when dieting. Confident one week, down and scared the next. I started getting butterflies every time I thought about what I was about to face but I was also quietly excited. My condition was improving daily and I was soon looking better than I thought I'd ever done. Ten days out from the competition I started with a cold!! I'd survived all the viruses going round so far this year and even Dave's lung infection and just typical it hit me at such a crucial stage. I completely rested the weekend before the competition thinking that would benefit me better than going to the gym. I was right. The rest and every natural concoction for immune support/cold cure going helped me fight it off and I was back in the gym with a vengeance on Monday and more energetic than ever. Even through 4 days of zero carbs I was surviving well on nervous energy and was training like a demon.
On the Thursday prior to the competition I was interviewed by Tony Livesey (Sunday Sport fame) on our local radio. There was another guest on the show advertising his botox treatment! They couldn't have had two different guests on. They had me reading out the weather so I can now declare myself a BBC weather girl. Of course I put natural bodybuilding on the map and promised to contact them on my return with any news.
Traveling to Greece
I traveled on Friday (a day later than most of the team). My day started at 4.00am throwing my first lot of carbs in me with chicken for breakfast! The taxi driver turned up at 4.30am to take me to Manchester airport to catch the shuttle down to Gatwick. Having prebooked my flight and therefore being armed with my boarding card already I thought check in with the fast luggage section would have been pretty swift! How wrong was I? I think it would have been quicker to have checked in fully at the airport itself! Having gone through security I then bought a litre of water to take on board with me. I was so thirsty that this litre must have lasted all of 10 minutes so I went back and bought two more. Breakfast on the flight came round and the smell almost made me retch. It was a full English version but the fatty smell from the bacon and sausages was so synthetic and not the usual pleasant smell! I managed a further litre of water on the plane and carried my remaining bottle through the flight connections with me where I was told I had to leave it behind! So I downed almost the whole litre in one! It was then that I was quite thankful that I'd prebooked my flight seats and had purposely put myself next to the loos! The other advantage of prebooking the seats was that Jane Carter and I were able to get seats next to one another so we could have a good gossip the whole way out, and boy did we do just that.
I managed another meal in Gatwick whilst waiting for Jane and what strange looks you get when you eat chicken and potatoes at that time in a morning. If only they knew why! After purchasing yet more water we boarded the flight. Jane had arrived at Gatwick with Sean Ferguson so we knew he was with us but we hadn't spotted Roger Waters who we had expected to see on the same flight. After an hour into the journey, along came Roger to chat to us... how could we miss someone of his height? (Probably because we are short arses).
Arrival in Greece
Well we finally arrived in Greece to the same dilemma as the rest of the team the day before to find that we had to get our own transport to the hotel. Not a worry but it was probably a good job that Sean was with us as he hadn't even a clue what the hotel was called (bless him).
We finally arrived at the hotel and it was indeed beautiful. Nice big comfortable rooms although a little working air conditioning wouldn't have gone amiss. We soon met up with the rest of the team, the majority who were in Vicky and Guys room doing posing practice. Jakkie and Brian were next door and very kindly allowed us to use their room as a kitchen with microwave and steamer at our disposal for cooking our food. The room was like a furnace many a time and possibly helped towards Jakkie's water depletion!
Friday night was just a chill out night in our own rooms, fortunately I'd taken enough food with me to last but Jane and I had gone shopping for yet more water and loaded myself with potatoes and chicken which I spent over an hour in Jakkie's room cooking in preparation for the following day.
Saturday
I was eagerly waiting for Dave to arrive. I went shopping and got some wine to stick in the mini bar to keep him quiet. The whole team then met up with the rest of the competitors for photos and a walk to the venue where the competition was to be held the following day. It was just before we went out that Vicky told me that Jane's husband was coming over too. I knew then that he would be on the same flight as Dave so planned in my head to make sure we were back at the hotel in time for her surprise!
As you can imagine en route to the venue having downed as much water as possible in the morning prior to cutting it out at lunchtime, the stroll was taking its toll on my bladder. Fortunately I spotted some public toilets. Jane and I ran as fast as we could to the loos which I didn't realise you have to take your paper off an attendant before you entered the cubicle, thank heaven for tissues in my pockets! Coming out of the cubicle I then realised that from the occupied one next to me there were some rather strange sounds emerging, no, not the one Jane was in! It had actually been occupied by a guy! Strange considering there were toilets for men too and they were not unisex ones!
On walking into the venue, the hair on the back of my neck stood up. The stage was absolutely amazing, the biggest I had ever seen and was quite spectacular with white marble stairs leading up to the stage itself. Truly remarkable. However, as you may have read in the other reports, the lighting and back stage facilities were another story!! Well sorry, there were no backstage facilities! Of course there were toilets (two cubicles for the ladies) and a set of mirrors over the sinks that must have been the whole of 2 meters wide! I need not explain that the ladies taking part in the 'model' search and other such line ups that are more akin to beauty pageants took their place and rooted themselves in front of these mirrors.
After yet more shopping I managed to get Jane back to the hotel and I went to sit outside and wait for Dave and Jon to arrive. They'd only met the once but I thought they may have recognized one another, but, no. Jon arrived first with one of their children, Summer, who was a little angel. I took him up to the room and the look on Jane's face was just priceless. I breathed a sigh of relief as it meant I didn't have to tan her awkward bits again! Back downstairs I went to wait for Dave to arrive. Twenty minutes passed and there was no sign of him so I decided to run upstairs to get my mobile in case he'd lost the name of the hotel and was stranded at the airport. My card would not let me into the room, and it was only when a male voice shouted, "I'm on the loo you'll have to wait", did I realise that Dave must have arrived whilst I was taking Jon upstairs!
I found out that the film 'Mummy' was on one of the few English speaking channels so we both eagerly awaited that. However, having started on the wine at 6.30pm I found myself not seeing any of the film beyond the library scene as I'd collapsed into a deep sleep but at least I slept well. Well I did, until about 3am when I just lay there and lay there thinking how long it seemed to have taken for this day to arrive but how quickly the time was now going.
Competition Day
I gave up trying to get back to sleep at 5.30 and decided to get up. We were all meeting at 7am to walk to the venue so I put my face and bikini on and decided to leave the tan alone as it had been so hot in our room that night that it was still quite wet on me. Luckily my skin had been drier than it has ever been and therefore took the colour up pretty well.
As soon as we arrived at the venue we were told that all competitors were to go backstage. It was only then that I realised there were no changing rooms and the corridor was to be male and female changing rooms, and pump up area, etc. That is a pump up area without weights. However, we all mucked in, the backstage comradery between the team members was fabulous. Brian and Andrew were excellent at making sure we were all tanned up well. In fact for Jakkie to turn deaf ears to me asking Brian to both "touch me up" and "sort me out" deserves credit.
At the last minute Jane and I had decided to enter the open class which was separated into height classes. We were both therefore in the short class. This was the fourth line up so we were on pretty sharpish, having been informed all the way by Davy how long we had for pumping up etc (if it wasn't for Davy and the other guy helping out backstage I'd hate to think how the day would have gone).
Having been on stage Jane and I both thought we would be in the top three. I was more than happy with myself, my legs were the best they've ever been, I'd even got my abs showing and I knew I had no worries about my shape. I then had a pretty long wait for the Masters ladies so decided to join the others in the audience and watch some of the show. I have to say that this is all blurred and I can hardly remember what classes I saw at this stage! Most of the team I spoke to thought Jane and I would have medals in the open class so I was pretty happy.
The judging was done relatively quickly. In fact you could say too quickly. I knew that the lighting was bad and the judges didn't seem to move the competitors about enough to compensate for this. Having returned home and looked at the photos I was stuck at one end of the line up only to then be placed at the other end where the lighting was equally bad. In fact, in my class all they did was a reverse order of the whole line up! There was not even a comparison of the line up with the 'to be' winner (Jane) in the middle as you often see.
We had a couple of hours to kill between the prejudging and the show so Dave and I went to find somewhere for him to eat before going back to chill at the hotel. We found a fabulous kebab café where they even had skewered chicken so I was able to eat too.
Back at the venue I expected it to be pretty busy. There were no more spectators than there had been at the prejudging. Personally I thought it was poorly attended and the audience thinned out as the night went on leaving I would say just the British team and the American team.
Just to confuse matters the line up schedule was changed round but again thanks to Davy and the other guy, everything was well run and we were all informed of when we were needed.
Soon enough Jane and I were called on for the open short class. The way the show is run is the top three are called off and the remaining competitors are then photographed with their participant medals. The first name called was Jane, then Monika from Australia. One more name was to be called and without blowing my own trumpet I did expect it to be me, but no. The atmosphere from the audience was weird. They were totally silent and I could hear Dave calling out "the judges are wrong Dawn". What could I do? I looked at our team and smiled and put a brave face on to hide the disappointment. I was tempted to walk off but that's not professional and I didn't want to put any further negative feelings to the show. I walked off having had our photos taken and changed as quickly as I could to go and support Jane in the remaining three.
Jane was clearly the winner looking the best I've ever seen her. The team was in an uproar when it was announced she was first. We were clearly the loudest there even though we weren't the biggest team.
Again, many of the other classes I watched at this stage are blurred. I remember the tall open ladies coming on and a huge American girl, Jill (who the day before I had thought was a teenage lad) winning that line up. This was who Jane would be up against for the open overall. The pose down that they put on was very entertaining and they actually looked like they were having fun up there. Then the announcement, Jane won! Wow! I screamed my lungs out and then looked at Jill whose face was that of disgust and she was shaking her head. She was clearly not happy. Yes she had Jane on size, she was pretty big all round but Jane had the edge on condition. Jill was soft particularly in the lower rear end and this obviously cost her points. How proud did we feel when the National Anthem was played whilst we looked on at Jane standing there holding her winners plaque and sporting the crown of leaves. We all had our hopes up then for Jane in the pro class.
For myself, I had to pick myself up as I had to face going on stage again for the Masters ladies. The results from the open short didn't give me much confidence but I tried to stay positive by thinking that that was not the class that I'd gone over for. The Masters was what mattered to me and I was just hoping I'd get a medal.
Eventually I was back up on stage and was feeling pretty confident but again still had that negative doubt in the back of my mind. We finally walked along the stage which seemed even bigger now! They announced that they would call the top three off in no particular order and then I heard my name being called out! I was elated; I hit the air with a fist and jogged off feeling rather pleased with myself. I quickly ran round to those still back stage and shouted "we're in". I just remember seeing the smile on Guy's face. The next thing I knew was I was to be the first on to do my routine as the girl numerically in front of me had already done hers. On I jogged in case they started to play the track before I got there. It felt so good posing but everything Roger Shelley (thank you once again) had taught me seemed to have vanished (I still need more practice) but I posed my little heart out and realised they were giving me longer than the 60 seconds we'd been told we would have so I continued with my full routine, the latter of which I'd not practiced so I just made it up as I went along to finish on the line that I liked and knew was just slightly over 90 seconds.
Winners of Women’s Masters – see Dawn on the right
Finally we stood there waiting for the names to be called out and I took the bronze medal. I was a little disappointed but at the same time pleased that I was not going home without a big medal. It was finally over for me after all these months of dieting. Suddenly the thought of putting weight on did not appeal.
I rushed back stage and wished the other guys all the best before I went to join the rest of the team in the audience. My first priority was to grab a brownie kindly sent over from Crow with Andrew Jackson (yes, they arrived safe and well). As I returned Dave gave me a quick kiss and then said "this is diabolical". He explained that Roger had not placed top three in whichever line up was on at the time and the team protested rather loudly to make sure they tallied up the scores again which they did and then realised they'd sent off the wrong top three. Indeed, Roger was in the top three. They then called out the placings putting Roger in 3rd place! More protests again from our team as he was clearly far better than the others. The MC was starting to look rather sheepish and a couple of officials approached her and they checked the scores. In deed she had called them out in the wrong order! The poor guy that stood there on the gold plinth made me laugh as he made sure he got his photo taken with the gold medal on. How crap must he have felt being suddenly demoted from first to third!? However, enough of that, we were now screaming with joy for Roger.
I'd watched Roger pump up backstage and was amazed at his vascularity which just seemed to improve by the minute. He looked outstanding on stage and made us all very proud.
Other classes
Mens Pro: Chris is just a monster! His height makes him stand out from the crowd. His taper is to die for but the first I saw of him he was looking dejected and relaxed. Kerry was out in the front line up looking a little smaller than the other guys but his condition was clearly the best. He seemed to be getting called out again and again. Eventually Chris was brought to the front and once he started to pose he improved. He really started to shine through and along with his height you could not help but look at him. Raymond in the meantime had been stood at the back right at the side in the poor lighting, he looked down and I was only sorry that I didn't see him in a comparison line up (I'd missed him in the British final as I'd been backstage). If only he'd been given a fair crack up against the other guys. His routine was something though and I screamed with delight at his acrobatics. It was easily the best routine of the day for me. Mixed emotions for me followed this one, I was pleased of course for Chris but also felt the disappointment for both Kerry and Raymond.
Men's Pro Winners
Ladies Pro: Very disappointingly there were only four in this line up and three of them being our own team. I enjoyed every routine though I was a little confused at the bath robe worn by Jill (the American pro). I thought it would have been a battle between Vicky and Jane. Jane had already beaten Jill, Vicky's condition was clearly better than Jill but Jill had the mass. Jane's name was then called out as being in third place! As you can imagine we were all confused, unless this meant that Jill had not placed but no, Vicky was second followed by Jill in first! How on earth can someone beat another 20 minutes previous to then have the decision reversed? It was very strange in deed. Jane's husband was not happy at all and walked towards the back of the judging table and complained rather vocally. Dave eventually had to get hold of him to get him to sit back down through fear of him being kicked out. The MC just stood there looking over at him and never tried to calm the situation down. Jill of course was looking much happier that she'd won this class and smiled with pride whilst the American anthem was played.
Juniors: Mushy was very close to taking gold in this one in my opinion. His condition was outstanding and his shape was spot on. He was up against the Bulgarian who eventually took the gold. The only edge I think this guy had on Mushy was his abs which were sharp even when he stood relaxed. Mushy did of course have a great set of abs but he had to pose them to show them off.
Open mens short: Barry in my opinion had won this one. Condition was great and posing brought it out even more. I was disappointed for him to receive bronze and since returning home have wondered whether the MC had called the placings out in the wrong order as she had done for Roger. Nothing would surprise me.
Open mens medium: Sean's turn for yet another competition this year. Of course we were routing for him to get another win but he was up against a monster (Thomas Hauck USA) who eventually took the overall. Sean's condition was as good as he'd promised but sadly they went for mass in this line up.
I missed the Grand Masters (Rick) and Super Ultra Masters (Eric)…..why on earth they don't combine these like we do here in the UK is beyond me!! Both guys looked great backstage, (thanks to Eric for showing me how to pump up better) and their gold medals were well deserved. Unfortunately the monster from the open class also took the overall in the Masters line up but how proud were we to have three Brits in the overall line up! (Roger, Rick and Eric)
Other classes: I see no relevance for beauty pageant style competitions to be shown at these shows. To have to sit there and listen to these ladies almost ask for world peace and state they'd like to work with handicapped children was quite excruciating at times. Of course they all had fabulous bodies and stunning looks and wore beautiful gowns, but to me this is not what bodybuilding is about.
On the other hand it is wonderful to see an opportunity for the physically challenged people to show off what they've achieved in the gym. Two entrants only but what an inspiration they are. Personally I found there to be far too many classes (over 30). I got the impression that the older the competitors get then the more classes they introduce to accommodate them, rather than leave the line up at one masters class for example and judge all together but still award those over each decade of age!
There were also far too many classes for women; fitness, sports fitness, bodybuilding, physique, figure and then these were split into height categories or age categories as well as there being the pro line up and the open classes! Without the beauty pageant ones I'm sure this would not have been as bad!
All competitors I spoke to were very friendly. It was lovely to meet some of the ones that we have seen on TV (Bodybuilding Pensioners and Wife Swap), almost like meeting celebrities! I received lots of complements from fellow competitors which really made my day. One memorable one was from a guy who was lying on the floor and as I walked passed he just said "young lady, you have a tremendous body", now that made me feel good twice over ha-ha! However, I have to say that Mushy's facial expression was the best when he realised I was old enough to enter the Masters ladies.
In all honesty, the general running of the show and facilities is the worst that I have experienced. Had it not been for such fabulous team spirit I would have been disappointed.
The Evening Party
Now this I was really looking forward to. We were promised plenty of food, entertainment and of course there would be an opportunity for a tipple or two. The food was nice enough if you like pastry but not enough of it and I witnessed the President having a go at one of the restaurant staff and shortly after more food arrived. The Greek dancers that were our entertainment were very talented but for me the music was just grinding in my ears. I was quite keen to go out with those who had already ventured out as I didn't feel tired enough to go to bed but not wanting to be social enough to stay and listen to the music any longer. Vicky came to our rescue and we had a gathering in her room with various food and drinks flowing (not all alcoholic ones I will add). We stayed there till the small hours putting the world to rights and hearing about Vicky's adventure on the way to Greece.
The Journey Home
A few of us were leaving on Monday. Had I realised what a fabulous time I was going to have, I would have stayed for the duration with the rest of the team. In the taxi on the way to the airport I received a call from the radio show asking how I'd got on and if I'd be available for a radio interview the following morning at 7.30!
Loaded with duty free, we eventually got on the plane. Dave had decided to upgrade us to club class which was a welcome thing especially when the champagne was offered! Unfortunately our flight was to be diverted to Venice after 90 minutes or so into the journey for a medical emergency meaning we landed back in Gatwick almost two hours after our scheduled time. Most people seemed in pleasant enough spirit, Mushy treated me to a few minutes of a neck massage and I ended up giving him the remainder of my protein bars. How on earth he ate them like he did I do not know they are dry and stick to your mouth but had no problems! Finally, we all met up in the airport for a last farewell. I personally was only sorry it had finally come to an end!
Finally Thanks
A general thanks to everyone who has shown me their support throughout the months leading up to qualifiers, finals and eventually the Olympia, particularly to Dave for putting up with all the months of dieting and moaning, however, as he says, "It's all self inflicted"! His continued support and encouragement has been second to none.
MT Moderator Big Les who helps me with my diet has been another brick for me this year. He manages to find the time for me whilst he is studying and even through the hospital trips he's had this year have not stopped him being there for me when needed. Thanks buddy!
Vicky deserves a medal for organizing the trip whilst dieting for the show. I know she has lots of other things happening and all credit to her for getting into such fabulous condition and making it onto that stage. She left us hanging on until the last minute as to whether she was going to do the show! Thanks for all your encouragement and the opportunity to be part of such a wonderful team.
Crow has been there for me at every competition making sure the tan is right, talking sense into me, mailing me before shows keeping my spirits up and feeding me after the show along with the other 5000 with those glorious brownies. Annie too was a star helping me with my atrocious tan at the Manchester qualifier. Thanks to both of you.
Sadly Crow could not be with us in Greece so it fell to the hands of Brian to get my tan right and what a great substitute he was. He certainly 'sorted me out' and 'touched me up' very well. Thanks to Jakki for the loan of him.
Thanks to Chrissie of Chrissies cossies for making my show bikini, I was very impressed.
Thanks to Roger Shelley for giving up an hour of his Sunday morning and then however long it took him to edit and put the info on DVD. He had some marvelous ideas for my posing, some I forgot on the day, and others I remembered, I shall continue to practice to do you proud.
The team and supporters: each and every one of you is just fabulous. I was proud to be with each one of you and hope we will all be together again so get working hard at that gym for the finals next year. See you there.