NPC Europa

Friday morning, Diana, Molly, and I drove up to Dallas for the 2008 NPC Europa Championships.  We arrived at the Dallas Convention Center about 15 minutes before the weigh-in was scheduled to start.  Unfortnately they dropped me off on the wrong side of the convention center and it took me nearly 15 minutes to walk around (the place is humongous!) to the exhibit hall where the contest and expo were taking place.  There were nearly 200 NPC competitors entered in the show!  After the weigh-in I had a little to eat then did a light full body workout.  After that it was time to apply tanning products.  We applied one coat of Protan for a dark base, allowed it to dry for a couple hours, then two coats of Jan Tana Hi Definition Color.  This was my first time to use this Jan Tana product and I absolutely loved it!  It went on very easily with no mess and the color was awesome!  I highly recommend it!

Saturday morning I was up at 5:45am, applied one more coat of Jan Tan Hi Definition Color and was off to the convention center for prejuding.  I was really looking forward to grabbing a large cup of Starbucks coffee (I get the Black-eye) but the Starbucks adjacent to our hotel was not open yet!  I had to settle for McDonald’s coffee…..it wasn’t even close!  Never the less, I made it through the prejudging which went very smoothly.  Both the Masters and the Open Middleweight classes were loaded with quality competitors, so the competition was fierce!  Based on my placement in the call-outs I was confident that I was in the top 3 in both of my classes.  The intense competition had really gotten my adrenaline up and I was exhausted after I “came down” from prejudging.  We walked around the expo for about an hour collecting freebies and visiting old friends, many of whom I only see at the big shows.  After walking back to the hotel and grabbing a chicken breast and baked potatoe for lunch I was ready for a nap.

By the time I needed to go back for the finals by body was already sore from posing at the prejuding.  My posing routine went very well.  I placed 2nd in the Masters and won the Open Middleweights.   When it was time for the overall posedown I saw who I would be competing against.  The man to beat was the light heavyweight champion.  He was extremely thick and very well proportioned, but I thought I might be able to edge him out with my definition.  I guess it was close enough that they had to put us through both the symmetry and mandatory poses twice, but he came out the overall winner.

All in all it was a tremendous experience.  Anytime I can go to a show that is not drug-tested and be in contention for the overall title I feel really good about myself!

My hat is off to Ed and Betty Pariso for putting together an absolutely amazing production!!!  Not only did they have an incredible expo and bodyuilding event, they also included a car show, jujitsu tournament, a powerlifting meet, a model search and a star search all under one roof….well, actually all in the same exhibit hall!  Everything went very very smoothly and the entire event was absolutely magnificent!  If you enjoy attending events like the Pro Ironman in LA, the Arnold Classic in Columbus and the Olympia in Las Vegas; put the Europa Super Show on your list of Must-Attend events!