Canadian Female Bodybuilding Nationals Review

Ellen Partnoy

The event took place in Laval, Quebec in Canada outside of Montreal on September 3rd, 2005. A very modern city with a strong European touch due to the architecture and the french language being the main language spoken in the Quebec province. The finals for this event had sold out two weeks before.
Even though the number of competitors are decreasing in bodybuilding here are still good competitors with high quality. In the grand masters category there was only one competitor, Barbara Stannard. In the masters category there were 8 competitors and easily Marie Thiebault won her class. Ellen Partnoy came in second who was much smaller than Thiebault and was at a disadvantage when compared to the Quebec native. In the open category the best quality was showcased. Days before at the weigh-ins it seemed that the event was going to be a very close contest due to the number of high quality physiques specially in the heavyweight class. The lightweight category was very close because Ellen Partnoy who had the best body and symmetry was placed second against the young and charming Carmen Tocheniuk. In the middleweights there were only 5 competitors, one of them was Autumn Raby who last year had placed second in the Heavyweights behind Louise St. Pierre but this year being so close to the Middleweights she decided to go into that class. Autumn won her class and came in amazingly conditioned with low body fat levels that any male competitor would want. Only one IFBB pro card would be awarded in this event

Autumn Raby

so the competition was tight. The heavyweight class had veteran competitors such as Pamela Howard, Jody Wald and Colette Guimond who came back after some years of inactivity. Third place was given to Zoa Lindsey who came with a very good physique and who seemed likely to win the class. The booing was heard from the crowd who were not happy with the judges' decision. In second came Jody Wald who was competing for her third time at the Nationals. Colette Guimond won the class regardless of missing part of her shoulder and having a very muscular body. This confused many people because the IFBB determined a 20% reduction of muscularity. The missing shoulder affected the symmetry of Colette. Pam Howard was much softer than before and took 4th place in her class. There was a competitor who was ignored even though she had one of the best symmetric physiques, Kim Birtch from Ontario. Kim not only has the muscle and the symmetry she is also one of the most feminine competitors in the sport. Kim Birtch has an excellent future and her trainer Rhonda Lee Quaresma will be working hard for the upcoming nationals in 2006. Tatiana Anderson also showed a very good physique with good form and will be one of the competitors to follow.

Kim Birtch

The event continued until 9pm and the time came to announce the winner of the priced IFBB pro card. Among the three Carmen Tocheniuk, Autumn Raby and Colette Guimond were many differences one being very small, another one ripped and Colette very muscular and vascular. The winner was announced in French "Madame Autumn Raby" was the overall winner. Given that the winner was announced in French it took Autumn a second to realize she had won, the decision was fair because Autumn Raby had an almost perfect body. When it seemed that the event had ended the president of the CBBF and some officials whispering to each other. The result, the CBBF decided they would award another pro card to another competitor. Colette Guimond was elected because she had competed many times and it is true she has a physique that would impress anyone. Colette has a pro physique and deservingly she had to be elected over Carmen Tocheniuk.

Jody Wald and Kim Birtch

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