Twenty years ago to the day, a skinny Italian kid scarce on muscle but rich with ambition made his way into the Centre Claude Robillard in down town Montreal. Walking into the huge hall his eyes widened and jaw dropped at the spectacle before him! “It was 1985 and the first bodybuilding show I ever saw! They had brought the Canadian Bodybuilding Championships to Montreal at the Centre Claude Robillard. I remember like it was yesterday.

I went with my older brother and walking into the Venue, I was totally blown away! I was in total awe of it all.

There were people and huge muscular guys all over the place scrambling about and talking to one another. You could feel the competition in the air. What stuck in my mind was how I felt, like a total stranger! I remember saying to my brother, who reminds me time and time again, “bro one day I will be the king here! Everyone will know me and respect me for my accomplishments!”

That day opened up a new world for Quebec’s Joe Spinello! A seed was planted deep within him that would burn and guide his destiny for the next twenty years. He knew his future would be bodybuilding and he went on to win the Junior worlds and Canadian Championships and became one of Canada’s most popular and well known Pro bodybuilders.

Now twenty years later and to the day, Spinello proudly walked into the sold out Salle Andre Matieu College Montmorency auditorium in the French city of Laval. In a repeat of 1985 people were scurrying everywhere but this time the name that was being called out was Joe Spinello’s! From every direction people were shouting his name trying to get his attention. They were looking for tickets, directions to the change rooms, where the sponsors were supposed to setup, and many other questions that only Joe knew the answer to! Ironically, Joe’s prediction twenty ago had become reality! He was the main man, the guy now in charge!

It was my 28th Canadian Championships and I had also had come full circle. My odyssey began way back at the 1976 Canadian Nationals where I stood on stage as a competitor. Ironically, the show also was held in Montreal. I failed miserably as a competitor and was totally embarrassed by my condition. Realizing that I would never be a national caliber competitor I promised myself that I would never step on a Canadian bodybuilding stage again! Twenty-nine years later and true to my word I never did, instead I spent a lifetime photographing the more physical gifted through my camera lens!

It has been eight years since the last Canadian Nationals were held in the Belle province, which is puzzling when you consider that Quebec is one of Canada’s biggest bodybuilding provinces. The history of bodybuilding in Quebec goes back as far as the juristic age. Thanks to the brilliance of the Weider brothers, modern day bodybuilding originated in Montreal. This is where it all began and not just Canadian bodybuilding. The IFBB originated here and this is where the headquarters are located. So why has it taken so long for the Canadian nationals to come back to its home? Simply put, you have to have an extraordinary promoter who is willing to put everything on the line both financially and emotionally to produce such an event.

It is CBBF president Mark Smishek who is responsible for picking a promoter who can deliver a first class event where Canadian athletes have the opportunity to flex their stuff in a premiere location worthy of all their hard work.

Mark knew Spinello’s potential and what he was capable of. This guy not only talked the talk but also walked the walk! Joe could deliver the goods! It is no secret that in Quebec, If you promote a national bodybuilding competition they will come, and come they did, from all over Canada!

I can’t help but wonder what brought them? Was it the five thousand dollar custom designed Overall Championship diamond ring, or the special sculpted bodybuilding figurines? Maybe the four pro cards that the CBBF put up for grabs? Regardless there were plenty of reasons! By the time Saturday morning rolled around we were confronted with a record number of 140 athletes crammed backstage covered in oil and artificial tanning lotion pumping feverously in preparation for the battle that would follow!

At 16 Quebec’s Simon Voyer was a pretty skinny kid. Like Spinello he was also scarce on muscle but full of ambition and wild dreams. He was no stranger to first class bodybuilders as the gym he trained at was full of them. These guys were monsters and most skinny kids would be intimidated just to be in the same building. Not Voyer, who would often announce to his buddies, that someday he would win the Mr. Canada as he hoisted his skinning arms into a classic double bicep pose! The result usually triggered loud laugher from his buddies as they teased him constantly about his delusional ramblings! After all, how could such a skinny kid be taken serious?
Nineteen years later, thirty-five year old Simon Voyer now stood on the Canadian National championship official scale weighing in at a solid 224 pounds. His goal was to make the heavyweight category, all day Friday was spent squeezing out any excess water that might influence his final weight. The plan worked perfectly as he edged down into the heavyweight class by a mere pound. He was ready!

One has to wonder how many times that Alberta’s indomitable Dan Dufrense has to be kicked before getting the message that maybe, just maybe, he doesn’t have the goods to be a Canadian Champion. The guy has suffered both emotionally and physically since making the commitment many years ago! It is a fact that some guys just have it luckier than others, unfortunately, big Dan is not one of them. Last year he disappointed himself and many of his hometown fans by finishing a miserable fourth place in the heavyweight division. It came out later that he had trained injured and endured a lot of pain to fulfill his commitment to compete. However his loss left him emotionally spent and depressed where he seriously considered quitting. Considering his many injuries and mental state it would have been easy to have done this and skipped the 2005 event. But we were talking about big Dan Dufresne, not your typical competitor, there is no quit in this guy and in spite of everything thrown at him he just continues persevering!

Ontario’s cocky Fouad Abiad arrived in Montreal totally confident that he would be the guy walking away with all the spoils of this year’s Nationals. He had good reason to believe his chances were good, based on his remarkable performance at last year’s Canadian nationals! Virtually an unknown in 2004 he vaulted to the top of the Canadian scene by upsetting everyone in winning the heavyweight category. He then went on to scare the other class winners in presenting a formable challenge for the overall title in the final pose down. Add an additional twenty pounds of superbly distributed muscle and he would be unbeatable in 2005!
The air was thick with anticipation as the morning prejudging got underway, interest was at a fever pitch as evidenced by the sold out audience, a first in Canadian Bodybuilding.

MASTER’S WOMEN
Quebec fans love their hometown favorites and cheered loudly as Marie Thibault combined good muscle size and impressive muscularity to take the women’s master’s category with B’C’s veteran Ellen Partnoy second and Quebec’s Helene Mayotte third.

GRAND MASTER’S WOMEN
This was a new category added for 2005. I really didn’t expect much in the way of competition. After all how much muscle can a fifty year old women build? Well, all it took to prove me wrong was to see the incredible conditioning of Alberta’s compact dynamo Barbara Sannard. This lady sported unbelievable muscle density with tremendous muscularity. In winning this inaugural division Barbara proved that women can develop substantial muscle and excellent conditioning at any age!

LIGHTWEIGHT WOMEN
When it comes to women’s competitions, regardless of the outcome, there are always those who question the decisions. With good reason as I find it very hard to follow any pattern of consistency in picking the winners. One time the winner may be thickly muscled and defined, while another, symmetry and shape is the main consideration. This would be the case with this year’s lightweight women’s category as the lineup of athletes included all ranges in this scale. Regardless of the criteria and what you are looking for, it would be very hard not to notice the attractive and sleekly muscled Carmen Tocheniuk in a lineup. Grant you, this gal doesn’t have the mass and thickness of B.C.’s Ellen Partnoy or N.B.’s Kandy Thomas but she does have exceptional shape, nice balance, and crisp muscularity. If you are looking for an attractive acceptable winner, that would appeal to the general public then Carmen was a good choice. Unfortunately, for Partnoy (2nd) and the rock hard Thomas (3rd) the judges liked her esthetic development and awarded her the lightweight championship.

MIDDLEWEIGHT WOMEN
From the moment that the superbly conditioned Autumn Raby walked on stage it was absolutely clear that this gal was the winner. Gliding from one spectacular pose to another this perfectly developed athlete was the epitome of muscular perfection from head to toe. She could be critized for being too muscular and just a little to extreme in the muscularity department but one has to open their mind and appreciate her clean crisp conditioning which in my opinion was superb. Ontario’s Janeen Lankowski competing in her first Canadians finished a respectable second with the much improved Nathalie Hould of Quebec in third.

HEAVYWEIGHT WOMEN
As the 14 heavyweight women competitors strutted on stage I was surprised at the variation in the assorted shapes and sizes they presented. You would expect them to be similar in height and structure but that was not the case as the stage contained the very tall to the very short. I don’t know if freaky is a flattering word to describe the mind boggling development of Quebec’s massive Colette Guimond. But that was the word that came to mind when I first looked at her. Sporting Ronnie Coleman mass, I couldn’t think of another word. Regardless of your opinion of women’s bodybuilding it was very difficult to ignore the absolute mass and full muscular development of the massive Guimond. Without question if the winner was picked on sheer muscle mass and thickly proportioned muscle then she was the easy winner. However, I thought that the new IFBB ruling instructed judges to score down excessive muscle development in women’s bodybuilding? If that were the case then Guimond should have been penalized for her obvious abundance in the mass department. Regardless if you like large muscles on a woman or not, it was impossible not to stare in disbelief at Guimond’s high peaked biceps, massive back, and huge flared thighs. I did notice a problem with one of her delts, which seemed out of proportion. I understand that this was a result of an injury she suffered. I guess the CBBF judges were either intimidated or just overwhelmed with Guimond’s spectacular package and awarded her first place.
Sporting her own brand of thick shapely muscle was Alberta’s stocky Jody Wald who managed to grab second over B’C’s towering Zoa Linsey (3rd) who displayed some pretty serious muscularity and symmetry of her own.

JUNIOR MEN
I am increasingly worried at the lack of competitors in the junior men’s category. After all, it is these kids who will make up the future of Canadian Bodybuilding and for the past several years the number of athletes are just not there as evidenced by only three in this year’s Canadians. In spite of the low number of competitors the quality was good as by Quebec’s ultra ripped Michael Talbert who defeated B.C’s equally conditioned Robert Borak (2nd) and Manitoba’s stocky James Nakonechny (3rd).

MASTERS MEN
Lack of numbers were not a problem in the men’s masters class as 15 of Canada’s best male athletes over 40 crammed the stage in anticipation of the battle to follow. Manitoba’s veteran warrior Rob Belisle recently celebrated his 40th birthday making him eligible to compete in the masters. Bob is a popular Canadian competitor and a huge favorite in this category. He disappoint as he brought a pretty formidable arsenal of muscles in quest of his first Canadian title. His superb development has always served him well in the men’s open classes and if it hadn’t been for the excellent condition of Quebec’s Alain Desmarais a new face in Canadian bodybuilding Bob would have achieved his dream. Desmarais looked fantastic, combining rock hard muscularity with superb shape and proportion. Unfortunately, in spite of his excellent condition Belisle had to settle for second with B.C.’s newcomer Jeff Larose third and Quebec’s popular veteran Roger Leveille in fourth.

GRAND MASTERS MEN
As a senior bodybuilder myself, I was very excited to see what kind of shape us older geezers could achieve! So with great interest I watched as Saskatchewan’s shredded Steven Burns took first place with the kind of quality conditioning that was expected from guys 30 years younger! Steve looked fantastic and was proof that the aging process can be stopped with the right combination of exercise and nutrition. Equally impressive was Ontario’s symmetrically developed Chuck Matton who also looked 20 years younger than his actual age. Chuck finished second with Quebec’s seasoned veteran Gilles Bellehumeur last year’s winner third.

BANTAMWEIGHT MEN
I was surprised to see Quebec’s symmetrical Denis Pedneault defeat Alberta’s thickly muscled Duke Lam in the Bantamweight category. Pedneault in spite of his superb shape and exquisite symmetry in my opinion just wasn’t hard enough. Lam, in contrast was all over him in the size and mass department. He had great impressive muscle density and overall thickness. In fact, he had so much muscle that it was hard to believe that he weighed less than 143 pounds, as he appeared much heavier. Third place was awarded to Ontario’s shredded Vishnu Persaud.

LIGHTWEIGHT MEN
Once again the battle came down to symmetry versus size as Nova Scotia’s superbly shaped Chris Johnson faced Saskatchewan’s less shapely but thicker muscled Gord Suel. Johnson didn’t present the superior mass and size of Suel but he more than made up for it with his eye pleasing esthetic shape and exquisite symmetry. He is a master poser and takes full advantage of this gift hitting one classic pose after another. Unfortunately, his lack of muscle density, which Suel has in abundance allowed the judges to award him first place over the symmetrical Johnson. I particularly liked Suel’s nicely separated thighs, wide capped delts, and peaked biceps. Quebec’s muscular Henri Derome finished in third and with a bit more muscle mass could be a future winner in this division.
WELTERWEIGHT MEN
Quebec athletes reigned supreme by dominating the welterweight men’s category by winning all top five positions. First place was a fierce battle between rock hard Yanick Brisson and the thickly muscled Ghyslain Lacasse. Lacasse sported great symmetry with nicely rounded muscle bellies with nice flowing shape. On the opposite spectrum we had were treated to Brisson’s hammered steel muscularity and raw muscle density. I personally felt that the class could have gone either way and by the surprised expression on Lacasse’s face when he was announced the winner, I think he also thought the same thing! Third place was awarded to Pierre Phaneuf.

LIGHT-MIDDLEWEIGHT MEN
In contrast to the previous class which belonged to Quebec, the men’s light-middleweights looked like an Ontario sweep! This would have been the case if it hadn’t been for Quebec’s thickly muscled Patrick Bernard who faced a stiff attack from Ontario’s Brooke Maskell, popular Danny Cicchirillo, and ripped Pirooz Varasteh. Bernard was last year’s champion and was determined to defend his class championship by bringing some pretty serious muscularity to the plate. It looked like Bernard would regain his title but as the contest wore on Maskell got stronger. He equaled Bernard in overall conditioning and was a bit larger. In fact when you took a good look at Maskell it was hard to find any flaws in his splendid development. Unfortunately, as good Bernard was, it wasn’t enough to fend off Maskell’s aggressive challenge as was awarded first with Bernard second and Cicchirillo third.

MIDDLEWEIGHT MEN
When N.B.’s sliced Sandy Rideout walked into the Friday evening weigh-in, he was a total unknown in Canadian bodybuilding with the exception of his home province of New Brunswick! Last spring Sandy had created quite a sensation by winning the 2005 Atlantic Championships with an ultra shredded condition rarely seen in bodybuilding anymore. Considering his unbelievable condition I was convinced that he could win the nationals. When I heard that Sandy was in Quebec ripped and ready I was excited to see what kind of challenge he could summon up against the big boys from upper Canada! The sliced kid from the Maritimes did arrive in Quebec in pristine condition, but faced an unforeseen obstacle! Not only was he in jeopardy of not winning, it looked like he may not even be able to compete! That Wednesday before the competition he had slipped in his bathtub and landed on his elbow, causing severe tissue damage. At the Friday night registration he reluctantly showed me his aching elbow, which was deformed from being swollen. He wanted my opinion whether he should compete given its current swollen condition? I instructed him to try and reduce the swelling and compete anyway with the hope of making the top five. In desperation he visited the local hospital emergency unit and found a doctor to syringe some fluid from his swollen elbow with the hope of reducing the swelling enough to compete. Make no mistake, as a correctional guard Sandy knows what tough is, and in spite of the severe pain radiating from his painful elbow he was determined to compete!
I didn’t really expect a lot out of Rideout considering the hell he had gone through for the past couple of days. To make things worse, the middleweight category was the largest in the entire competition with 17 athletes! In spite of all his hardships, I was shocked at Rideout’s unbelievable condition! The guy was sliced! I didn’t think I would ever see the day that someone could make Quebec’s veteran Amada Youssouf look out of shape! However, compared to Rideout he did! The guy was ultra shredded particularly his legs with steel cable size striations, which withered and danced every time he moved his thighs. I swear that the guy was so dry & hard that he appeared to be skinned alive. Fortunately, in spite of the obvious pain, evident everything he hit a pose, the injured elbow was not that noticeable and he easily dominated the class with a valiant effort that was rewarded in an unexpected win.

After hooking up with Canada’s training guru Scott Abel, Nova Scotia’s Tim Rafuse was determined to reap revenge on Rideout for beating him at the 2005 Atlantic’s. Rafuse was in superb shape sporting unbelievable thickness and superb symmetry, which should have earned him a solid second place. However following the prejudging both he and Youssouf were tied for second. Due to a CFFB judging ruling that settles ties, Youssouf got the break and was awarded second with a disappointed Rafuse third and veteran Rob Beslisle fourth.

LIGHT-HEAVYWEIGHT MEN
In past Canadian Championships the light-heavyweight men division has always been one of the most fiercely fought and competitive! This year was no exception as Iron man of Canadian bodybuilding Alberta’s Dan Dufresne was back! Now training under Ontario’s Scott Abel the terminator walked on stage in his lifetime best condition. I have written a lot in the past year regarding Dan’s battles with injuries, emotional ups and downs and his intense determination to win the Canadian Nationals! Dan has always had the potential to win but that dream has always escaped him. The reason, he always competed with the idea that bigger was better. Obviously, Abel made him see beyond his size fetish and you win contests on quality and muscularity! Obviously, he listened walking on stage now a seasoned and polished light-heavyweight.

Until I seen Ontario’s dramatically improved Mboya Edwards I thought that Dufresne’s victory would be a mere formality! However Edwards had other ideas and had full intentions of making Dufresne face his worst nightmare one more time! Last time I saw Mboya compete nationally, I think he was at least 20 pounds lighter! I noted obvious improvement on his upper torso, which was packed with slabs of thick shapely muscle. Top it off with high peaked biceps, wide tapered back, tiny waist and you have a potential national champion. Fortunately for Dufresne, as good as Edwards was in the upper body he was no match for Dufresne’s freaky leg development. The guy has a spectacular set of piston like thighs and calves that are on par or better than many of the world’s best pros! In contrast Edwards could have used more leg mass and outside sweep. I also felt that Dan’s superior stage experience helped him squeeze by the less flamboyant Mboya who I felt could have been more aggressive and determined. In a competition this close any edge can get you the win. Dan is a veteran of many national campaigns and his contest experience including the best poser award was the edge he needed to slip by Edwards to win the category. Regardless, I was very impressed with Edwards and his awesome shape and superb development. He could have used more oil to highlight his muscles and a more polished stage presentation, but all things considered Dufresne was very lucky to defeat this future champion! Another up and coming Canadian superstar that that we all should keep an eye on, is Quebec’s superbly proportioned Martin Allard. Martin has the kind of esthetic appeal where he is a standout in any lineup. Watch out, as this guy has all the necessary ingredients to become a future Canadian Champion. This was his first national’s and he was rewarded with a third place finish.

HEAVYWEIGHT MEN
I confess that it is hard for me not to gloat over this one! Why? Because last year I predicted that Quebec’s Simon Voyer displayed amazing potential and was the guy to watch in 2005! Living up to my prediction Voyer didn’t disappoint us with a condition and development that was nothing short of spectacular! He was second in 2004 and to have a realistic shot for the top spot he realized he needed more quality size. So the spring and summer of 2005 was spent adding a solid ten pounds of muscle! Simon’s stragedy worked as he was noticeably thicker and hadn’t sacrificed any of the pristine rock hard muscularity he sported last year. It was clear that his size increase now made him the number one contender! I always question the decision to move up a category, which often results in a disappointing outcome for the athlete. This became painfully clear to last year’s light heavyweight champion Samer Zebib. Zebib also noticeably larger moved up to heavyweight category anticipating that the extra size would increase his chances of winning the overall championship. The move proved costly as Samer found himself face to face with the new and improved Voyer! Unfortunately, the additional size didn’t look as good on the blocky Zebib as it did on Voyer! Grant you, for pure freaky monster sized mass, Zebib had no equal. His upper torso is an awesome sight as he is literally crammed with huge bulging muscles. But there is a downside, he still requires more leg size to balance off his Herculean upper body! In contrast, Voyer sports classic shape and pleasing symmetry with no noticeable weak ness’s, add sharp separation, and crisp muscularity and you have a clear winner. Another casualty in the race to obtain more mass was Alberta’s Trent Walsh who also jumped a weight class. Trent also displayed incredible muscle density and additional overall size. He does give one the illusion that he has narrow shoulders, which takes away from his overall symmetry leaving him with a boxy look. Regardless, he has tons of solid muscle and incredible legs. Walsh and Zebib battled hard for the second spot with Zebib’s dominating mass eventually winning out.

SUPER-HEAVYWEIGHT MEN
I have always been a big fan of great shape and symmetry and in my opinion the top Canadian in this department is Ontario’s Fouad Abiad. Fouad literally came out of nowhere to win the heavyweight category of the nationals last year. Now he stood proudly on the stage with the best super-heavyweights in Canada. He had also gained some extra weight, which was perfectly distributed, improving what was already a remarkable sculpture of physical perfection. Usually when you get to the heavier weight class’s symmetry seems to suffer as athletes over bulk to compete bigger. This was not the case with Fouad as he made the judge’s job easy with his classic wide shoulders, thick pecs, prominent six pack, and shapely muscular legs. It was a no brainier when it came to picking him as the winner of the super-heavyweight category!
Alberta’s Chad Senger although not as esthetically shaped as Abiad presented some serious muscularity and kick ass definition. This guy was rock hard with terrific muscle density and steel cable like striations. However in spite of being shredded he could not realistically challenge Abiad’s superior size and pure esthetics and had to settle for second place.
Ontario’s thickly developed Dan Kennedy rounded out the top three with his own brand of rock hard muscle.

OVERALL
Considering the caliber of the class winners I knew we would be in for a historic battle for the overall title. There was a lot on the line, as we were looking at one of the best overall pose down lineups at a Canadian Nationals in some time. As in the past the overall winner is usually picked from one of the heavier weight class’s and this year would be no exception as Bantamweight Denis Pedneault, Lightweight Gord Suel, Welterweight Ghyslain Lacasse, Light-middleweight Brooke Maskell although all good and worthy of their class wins, realistically didn’t have a chance against the larger guys. Middleweight Sandy Rideout because of his extreme conditioning and shredded muscularity didn’t look out of place, and can stand with the best of them in that department. However to successfully challenge the bigger guys he still requires more mass and it just wasn’t there. Dufresne was fortunate enough to win his category and desperately hoped he could present a serious challenge! But in reality I just didn’t think he had the upper torso density and muscularity to pull it off against such formidable athletes as Voyer and Fouad. In my opinion it was between these two. I personally felt that either of these super Canadian Champions could have made a great overall Canadian Champion and future pro. As the judges put everyone through the mandatory poses I concentrated on comparing Fouad and Voyer as they were standing beside each other. The more I looked the tougher it became to find some reason to pick one over the other, Fouad’s sensational shape, physical presence and charisma was hard to overlook while Voyer equally as impressive displayed just a trifle bit muscularity especially in the back. Fouad also had smaller calves and could have used more lower lats. However he was sharper in the chest, had thicker hams, and harder glutes. It was so very close and one could argue positives for either athlete. The slightest advantage would be a reason for the judges to pick their winner. Of course there can only be one and today it was Quebec’s Simon Voyer!

When Simon was awarded the first place trophy and classic diamond ring I though that my eardrums would burst from the deafening screaming from his many elated fans.

With a huge smile and pointing at his friends Simon shouted “ What do you think of the skinning kid now?”

Fouad Abiad	Autumn Raby
Dan Dufresne	Sandy Rideout

Autumn Raby, Mark Smishek and Colette Guimond

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Joe, Simon Voyer and Benoit Brodeur, FCPAQ President.
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