CANADIAN CORNER #283: Provincial Championship 2005
by Garry Bartlett

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Many of you monthly readers are aware that I often get carried away in my column Often ranting on about particular issues that tend to stir me up! I know you want to read about Canada’s best bodybuilders and may not be interested in what I have to say about other things! Well get over it! It is a privilege I enjoy thanks to publisher “Bob Kennedy” and I intend on taking full advantage of my editorial freedom!

You might argue that this column should be just for competitors and athletes. I beg to differ, as Canadian bodybuilding is made up of more than just competitors. There are a lot of people who work very hard to make the sport what it is. I think that one group of people who are often neglected and taken for granted in our sport is the promoter!

Yes, promoters are the unsung hero’s of Canadian bodybuilding. Without them there would be no showcase for athletes to strut their stuff for fans and media. In fact without successful promoters most athletes would remain wrapped up in sweat suits hidden away in some obscure corner of a gym flexing in front of the mirror for anyone who might be interested in taking a look.

I wonder what would have happened over thirty years ago if Jim Lormier hadn’t stuck his neck out to promote the Mr. World bodybuilding Championships in Columbus, Ohio? Guess who won that show? Well it is no secret that the winner, big Arnold was taken with Jim’s fine promotion abilities and immediately developed a friendship and partnership that lasts to this day. Ironic that this chance meeting was the genesis for today’s extravagant and highly successful Arnold Schwareggner Classic.

These exciting and entertaining shows you attend with the hope of seeing some serious muscle or cheering for a favorite athlete, do not happen by accident. These great shows are the result of some very hard work from top Canadian national promoters such as Ontario’s Jim Morris & Norm Jabocbs, Alberta’s John Dirks, Saskatchewan’s Harvey Viteychuk and Quebec’s Joe Spinello.

Promoting bodybuilding competitions may look easy and provide a cash cow for the promoter but nothing can be further from the truth. There is a downside with high risks throughout the entire process.

If you ask any promoter what they fear the most when hosting a bodybuilding contest their usual reply is the huge financial risk involved. There is always the potential of losing money, even in a small show. However, once the commitment of promoting a contest is sealed, there is no turning back!

Former Canadian IFBB Pro Joe Spinello has found out first hand the perils and risks of contest promoting. Now Joe is one serious guy, and not to be taken lightly! Still carrying some serious muscle from the years of pounding iron he stares at you with the intensity of “Vito Corleone”! (Guys you know, from the movie The Godfather)! Being Sicilian he is a very intimidating guy, I for one am compelled to listen when he speaks!

“ Ya! When I switched from competitive bodybuilding to promoting shows, I never realized what a hassle and how much work was involved. I have never been one to back off from a challenge, and when I set my mind to do something, I give it my best! When I began promoting shows in Quebec I wanted to raise the bar higher! Of course my goal was to make a bit of money, but that wasn’t my only motivation. I also wanted to give something back to the athletes. As a competitor I know what it is like to compete and if the show is run badly it really affects you! An athlete is disappointed enough when they don’t win, but it really is mentally frustrating and a downer when you walk away from a very poorly promoted show! All the little things add up, like decent trophies, good stage lighting, first rate auditorium, expert judging, prominent sponsors, good quality competitors, and enthusiastic audience!”

Thanks to his solid work ethic and determination to make his shows better Joe has brought Quebec bodybuilding back to her glory days. He began promoting the Quebec provincials three years ago and each year the show has gotten bigger and better.

In fact the year 2005 found him committed to four contests; Quebec provincial drug tested championships, Mr. Montreal, Quebec provincials, and the Canadian National Bodybuilding Championships.

“Last fall I was very excited about my 2005 shows and really looking forward to promoting them, especially the Canadian nationals in Sept. At the time everyone wanted to get on board and 2005 was shaping up to be a very good year. With my first show I soon realized that this would not be the case. I was shocked when many of my verbally committed sponsors pulled out. I lost money on the Provincial National Qualifier.

People have no idea how bad things are out there! The economy is really suffering, especially the supplement companies. Their budgets have been slashed, which effects contest promoters. I had companies who promised to sponsor my shows when I approached them last fall only to shut the door in my face when I contacted them this spring. Worse yet! We have used the same auditorium to promote our shows for the past fifteen years. The management changed this past year and I was told that they no longer wanted bodybuilding shows run there. Their excuse was that they didn’t like bodybuilders, their behavior and bad public image! I was shocked and left with a huge dilemma of finding another hall to run our provincials and the National Championships!”

Fortunately, through some very serious searching Joe was able to find a new home for his provincial and national championships.

“ My biggest fear is losing my current auditorium as finding a satisfactory replacement is very difficult in the Montreal area. As I have found out, it doesn’t take much to piss off the management of these places. All an athlete has to do is wipe their oil covered hands on a ten thousand dollar backstage curtain and you can kiss the hall goodbye!”

These were only a few things Joe related to me as a promoter and said there were lots more. He just wanted me to let you readers know that promoting shows are a difficult task and that anyone reading this who plans on competing should always keep the promoter in mind and conduct yourselves professionally at all times and respect what they are trying to do. Like I said these guys work very hard to give you a place to strut your stuff!

It was obvious from the sold out auditorium that Joe’s quest to find a new location for his annual Mr. Montreal and Quebec provincials were a success. For the past several year’s he has promoted a Marathon day of competition in the city of Laval by running the two shows together as one event. The Mr. Montreal at one time was one of the biggest bodybuilding competitions in the province of Montreal but in recent years has dwindled to the point of not being a viable competition on its own. So Joe combined it with the Quebec provincials. The entire show is conducted in the morning with all the winners announced and trophies handed out before noon. The rest of the day is devoted to the Quebec provincial Championships!

Each year the Quebec provincials, just keeps growing in size and quality of athlete. This year we expected an exceptional turnout because of the up and coming Canadian National Championships, which would be contested on the exact same stage on September 3rd. The top three in each category of the Quebec provincials would earn the privilege of representing their province at the nationals.

To a sold out auditorium of screaming fans we witnessed some of the best bodybuilders in the province of Quebec flex their muscles with the idea of walking away with one of the beautifully crafted bodybuilding sculptures up for grabs.

Hulking Jonathan Gaumond really impressed me with his tremendous thickness and muscle size. He easily defeated a ripped Mike Jalbertt (2nd) and Mathieu Farmer (3rd) to win the junior category. I expect to see great things from this kid in future events as he has everything he needs to be a national winner.

The women’s masters category was won by a muscular Martine De Villers with Valerie Potel second and Denise Thibouthot third. The crisply defined Valerie Potel fresh from her masters runner-up placing went on to win the women’s lightweight Division with the thickly muscled Danea Rowley second. Denise Thibouthot took the women’s middleweight title and added another trophy to her third place masters one. Sporting tremendous mass with fully developed thick muscles Sylvie Descheneaux defeated a lean Jenny Russo (2nd) and the superbly defined Martine De Villers (3rd) in the women’s heavyweight category.

Sylvie Descheneaux

The women’s overall was a mere formality as the hulking symmetrically developed Sylvie Descheneaux easily outmuscled class winners Valerie Potel and Denise Thibouthot to take the overall women’s Quebec provincial championship title.

Sultry Tracey-Lynn Steele came out the big winner in the women’s Body fitness figure competition winning the master’s and tall class categories. In the tall class her lean and shapely development was good enough to push the well proportioned Myriam Cantin into second with Lise Viel third.
The body fitness short class division was won by the shapely and muscular Julie Mainguy. I was very impressed with her superb symmetry and esthetic overall balance, which I feel is national caliber. The petite Cathy Tremblay finished second with Stephanie Gagon third.

The battle for the body fitness overall title between Stacey-Lynn Steele and Julie Mainguy was a close one as Steele sported superior muscularity while Mainguy was better in overall muscle fullness and symmetry. In the end the judges favored Mainguy’s thicker muscled package, and awarded her the overall title.

Delphine Lhotte and Benoît Brodeur, FCPAQ President.

A superior fitness routine was the edge that flamboyant Delphine Lhotte needed to defeat sexy Karine Perron to win the Quebec Provincial Fitness title. Both girls sported great conditioning with exciting routines. I was very impressed with Master’s champion newcomer Daniel Berube who faced a serious challenge from Mr. Montreal Robert McIntosh. Robert brought a very serious package of full dense muscle from his Montreal win earlier that day. Fortunately for the striated Berube he was ready and through some serious flexing managed to edge him out for the number one spot. Berube presented the kind of condition that looked like his muscles were forged from hammered steel. Hulking Guy Deschamps was awarded third.

Very seldom do you come across the kind of physical perfection in both shape and symmetry that I witnessed in the splendid development of Bantamweight winner Denis Pedneault. This guy displayed unbelievable full thickly rounded muscles, which appeared even larger in contrast to his tiny joints. Usually guys in the bantamweight category appear too short and lack proportion. This was not the case as Denis looked to weight two hundred pounds and gave no indication of his smaller Stature, while on stage. Second place was awarded to a compact and muscular Bency Nguyen.

The men’s lightweight class became a close battle between the solidly built Stephane Boger and the esthetic Vincent Jabert. Jabert sported exquisite shape and symmetry while Boger was harder and a bit thicker. Following a heated pose down the judges reached their decision and gave first place to Goger with Jalbert second. A ripped and disappointed Farissi Rachid finished third.

In the men’s middleweight I really liked the impressive physique of Yannick Brisson who I feel could pose a big threat in this division when the nationals hit town. Yannick displayed a superb v-taper with a stunning set of full deeply separated set of thighs. He was also the choice of the judges as they awarded him first place over second place finisher Jean-Pascal Labelle and Bernard Rock in third.

Quebec has always produced national level light heavyweight competitors and today would be no exception as several superb contenders stepped on stage in an effort to qualify for this year’s nationals. After a twelve year layoff, former Quebec favorite Robert McIntosh decided to make a comeback, and qualify for this years nationals. It didn’t take long for him to establish his dominance as earlier in the day demolished all competition by winning the Mr. Montreal Masters, Light heavyweight and the overall title. Confident and pumped to the max, he now he stood on the provincial stage offering a challenge to all contenders! The hairless crowned McIntosh could be the model for that old Gold’s Gym man logo that was so popular many years ago. Sporting a tremendous set of peaked biceps, slabs of torso muscle, and flared legs he was a formidable foe.

I felt that the massively developed Benjamin Galipeau had the goods to challenge Bob and sported superior overall symmetry but in the end he just didn’t impress the judges enough and they gave McIntosh first place with Galipeau second and the nicely conditioned Alexandre Raymond third.

The province of Quebec also has a long history of producing some pretty impressive heavyweight competitors with this year’s lineup the best we have seen in some time. As all contenders walked on stage, I immediately spied the exquisitely shaped Marc Lavoie. This guy looked spectacular with all the necessary goods to do some serious damage. It didn’t take long for the judges to share my opinion as he was constantly compared to favorites the ultra ripped Maxime Duchemin and shredded Steve Tremblay. Both Maxime and Steve displayed impressive overall muscularity but failed to match Marc’s superior symmetry and balanced development. I particularly liked his remarkable V-taper and thickly developed flared thighs. It came as no surprise when Marc went on to take the heavyweight category with Duchemin in second and Tremblay third.

Maxime Duchemin

As the class winners were called on stage one last time to decide the overall winner I didn’t think it would take the judges very long to make their decision. It would be very hard to ignore the superb development and pristine condition of heavyweight Marc Lavoie. Although light heavyweight Robert McIntosh sported some serious mass he failed to match up to Lavoie’s pleasing shape and superior symmetry. The lighter class winners although in excellent condition just weren’t big enough to present a serious challenge. So it would come down to Lavoie & McIntosh. In the end Lavoie’s superior shape, proportion, and full-bellied muscles reigned superior as he was awarded the overall Quebec provincial bodybuilding championship title.

Max Duchemin, Marc Lavoie & Steve Tremblay

Another great Quebec competition was now over and as I thanked Spinello for the great show and his usual splendid hospitality he shouted!
“ Bart, if you thought this was good, wait until the Canada’s in September! I got some real surprises up my sleeve!” Packing up my camera gear I looked up an asked?

“What surprises?”

With a cocky smirk, he replied.

“Do you think you are somebody special? You will just have to wait and see like the rest of Canada!”