2008 was the first time there has ever been a Mr Peterborough show. The event was the brain child of Rob Reinaldo, manager of Ultra Bodies Gym in Peterborough and was put on in conjunction with www.musclefinesse.com and MuscleTalk. Bill Wilson from Muscle Finesse generously donated a £50 voucher to the winner of each category.
Like any local show, the event was a small friendly one, with a good audience turnout. Those who attended the event had the pleasure of me as compere. The only disappointment was the low turnout in number of competitors, many were local guys from local gyms, and some had travelled further a field. Despite them being low in number, the quality of physiques was very good.
The First timer was won by Kulwant Singh from Ultra Bodies and he went on stage with the novice line up. Third place in the Novice line up was tied with Chris Morrison owner of the site www.platinum-physique.com and Ben Sharpe from RAF Alconbury. Second place went to Serkan Sacakali of Ultra Bodies, but first place went to Ricardo Correia who had also won his line up in the East Anglian championship the week prior to Mr Peterborough. Ricardo impressed me; he's a young guy, with great shape and condition, and loves being on stage – he has a promising future in bodybuilding.
The Masters over 40 had two competitors. Chris Kardle, from Shapers Gym in Wisbech, competed in the East Anglian over 50 line up the week before. Steve Plavecz from Best Bodies Gym in Peterborough won the line up.
Rob is known as a great bench presser, and on two occasions he has won a Bench Press Competition at shows, so it was only right that we had one here too. The object was to ask guys from the audience to bench press 80kg for as many reps as possible. The winner received a trophy and a £50 Muscle Finesse voucher. Four guys tried their luck with two of them achieving over 50 reps; the winner being Marius from Lithuania with 52 reps.
Also, as another bit of fun, we got some guys out of the audience to take part in a shirts-off competition. Here, completely unprepared, a few guys took of their tops to be judged by two girls I picked from the audience. They all got a medal and an MT T shirt, with the winner being Micky McKay (MT member 'Micky'); maybe he had a bit of an edge though, as he is preparing for a show at the moment!
The guest poser was Luke Nichols from Bedford. Luke's achievements include UKBFF Britain Light Heavyweight 2004 champion, he's the current Mr England and the WABBA Europe runner up. A top level physique and a treat to have him on stage.
The Open Mr Class was the last category where Ricardo and Steve, the winners of the novice and masters line ups respectively joined in with two other competitors Richard Patrick from Shapers Gym and Dave Basinski from Best Bodies Gym. Richard took third, Ricardo second and Dave was crowned as Mr Peterborough 2008.
Feedback from the audience and competitors was that it was an enjoyable show and let's hope it will be run again in future years.