FigureRX Contest Report: 2008 NPC Ironman Figure
FigureRX Online Magazine Volume 3
February 16, 2008
2008 NPC Ironman Figure Official Contest Report
Welcome to our contest report for the 2008 NPC Figure championships! Special thanks to our Southern California office for covering this event and sending in reports so quickly. The entire event had quite a different feel this year, now that it has been moved to downtown Los Angeles and away from the intimate confines of Pasadena. Being in the Los Angeles convention center felt a lot like being in Big D for the Europa, with long corridors and spread out crowds. But their was room for growth, meaning more companies and more excitement at the Expo.
The Expo was excellent, but the lack of attention on NPC Figure was somewhat disappointing. In fact, those of you taking a look at the potato mafia's webcast apparently got to see something pretty bizarre .... Amazingly, when the overall NPC figure trophy was awarded they were conducting interviews back stage and ignoring the proceedings! Participation on the NPC side was a bit lower than previous years, with a few competitors who were expected to compete deciding not to after all. With only one competitor in Figure D, it looks like the move to four height classes also was a bit premature. The overall spread in Ironman is a great lure, but this show really should be a national qualifier next year in order to generate more interest.
The final competitor list and the results are below, please click on each athlete to see photos.
Danielle Edmonds won the overall title, and she was one of our favorites going into the show. But we have seen Danielle come in a lot tighter than she did this time, she is known for her razor sharp conditioning especially in her lower body, and we were a little surprised to see her win the overall title over both Class B winner
Ana Tigre and Class A winner
Jennifer Kline.
Overall Winner of Ironman Magazine Photo Spread:
Danielle Edmonds
Figure Class A
1.
Jennifer Kline <== FigureRX spotlight!
2.
Shawna Kondo
3.
Lisa Sandercock
4.
Kathryn Payton
5.
Debbie Bell
---Lilia Sandozequi
---Kimberly McGarry
---Kelly Mac
Figure Class B
1.
Ana Tigre <== FigureRX spotlight!
2.
Selma McPherson
3.
Bernadette Marturano
Figure Class C
1.
Danielle Edmonds
2.
Hanna Fox
3.
Delinia Lewis
4.
Kristie Tatum
5.
Dore Madere
Figure Class D
1.
Lisa Lynn-Calhoun
Overall winner
Danielle Edmonds is an established national star with multiple top five placings, and our preview spotlight athlete
Ana Tigre is well on her way to a pro card this year. We think the biggest surprise breakthrough of the night was the emergence of Arizona competitor
Jennifer Kline and she is our spotlight athlete for this report. Jennifer is a 34-year old mother of three children (including 9-year old twins) who is relatively new to figure, but she seems to be combining her own extensive knowledge with figure specifics learned from the best in Arizona because for this show she came in full, ripped and ideally shaped to make this showing a stepping stone toward her second trip to the national stage.
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In Jennifer's first show, the 2006 NPC Arizona, she placed 4th in Figure Class B and then moved on to compete at USA's the same year. Competing at the USA's taught her a lot and she chose to take a year off to pursue her running and triathlon goals. Now it appears that she is back and better than ever!!
Jennifer's background outside of sports is equally impressive, starting with a degree from Arizona State with a very high GPA. She then went on to graduate first in her class at the Phoenix police academy, and after a few years as an officer she moved into sales and now works as a Pharmaceutical/Aesthetics Sales Representative for Medicis Aesthetics (
http://www.restylaneusa.com /
www.medicis.com). On top of that, she owns and runs a personal training company called Personal Fitness Professionals and has done so for 7 years. All of this makes her tremendously qualified to help and motivate others to create balance in their lives and to advocate for youth fitness.
Check out Jennifer's contest photos below, and also take a look at the Class A comparison shots.
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NPC Figure Class A
Jennifer Kline was our unanimous winner in Class A, both in her one piece and her two piece, but that's indicative of how great Jennifer came in and not the quality of the rest of the class.
Shawna Kondo stepped up to compete two weeks before she heads to Columbus for the Arnold Amateur, and she has put on some size since we last saw her while maintaining her trademark tight waist. Third place athlete
Lisa Sandercock really nailed her conditioning relative to previous shows and she has the muscle size and shape that makes her look better the more ripped she becomes. Both
Kathryn Payton and
Debbie Bell also competed in the best shape that we have seen them.
Lilia Sandozequi is a beautiful competitor who we like a lot but she just didn't get the comparisons this time, and we expect her to move up for her next show.
The order in the comparison photos below is Payton, Kondo, Kline, Sandercock and Bell.
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NPC Figure Class B
Figure Class B was all about quality, not quantity.
FigureRX favorite and spotlight athlete
Ana Tigre came in as well as we have ever seen her. Ana has made improvements to her delts and quads and she is ready for the big time.
Bernadette Marturano was a surprise entrant who has been preparing for the Arnold Amateur, and we think she's almost ready and just needs to tighten her legs up a little more.
Selma McPherson has a great upper body, especially her lats, and she slipped ahead of Bernadette to take second place. The order in the comparison photos below is Marturano, McPherson and Tigre.
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NPC Figure Class C
Overall champion
Danielle Edmonds won Class C fairly easy, although we were impressed with our first ever look at
Hanna Fox.
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NPC Figure Class D
Lisa Lynn-Calhoun was the only competitor in Figure D, which is unusual for the tall class. She has exceptional back and shoulder development and we look forward to seeing her test herself against stiffer competition later in the year.
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