World Champ Karen Flaherty Takes a Break After Stellar Year

Cranbourne (Australia) bodybuilder Karen Flaherty is looking forward to a hearty Christmas lunch this year.

Months of 4.30am starts, gruelling daily work outs and strict dieting last week paid off when the 44-year-old defended her world title at the International Bodybuilding Association competition in San Francisco.

It was the culmination of a stellar year which also saw her win the INBA all-female classic and Victorian titles and place third in the Australian titles in Queensland.

“I’m looking forward to relaxing my regime over Christmas and just socialising and enjoying food and wine with family and friends,” she said.

The former amateur jockey, who snared Racing Victoria’s leading female rider award three years running in the late ‘90s, said all the sacrifices had been worth it.

“I dieted and trained very seriously for this. I dropped down to 47.5kg to increase my muscle definition,” she said.

“It’s always harder the second time around. There’s more pressure for you to perform. I was stoked to win both my divisions -masters and open class.”

Flaherty said her next major competition would be the state and Australian titles at the end of 2009.

Source:  Leader-News