Contest of the Day: UKBFF British I

UKBFF British Championships
Physique
20th October, Harrogate

In what was the first ever Physique contest at the UKBFF British championships, FMS favourite Ria Ward was the clear winner. Ria reigns in Harrogate, the headline in Flex Online UK read, calling her performance ‘stunning’, and adding that Ria epitomises the blend of muscularity and femininity that women’s physique is all about.

Last year’s UKBFF bodybuilding champion, the lovely Rosanna Harte, was commenting live on the show on the Muscular Development forum. Rosie reckoned Ria was a clear winner, [she’s] already got such a polished and pretty look. Judging by the photos I’ve seen, Rosie’s assessment was spot on. [It’d] be nice to see how well she’d do in the European’s or World’s, Rosie added, and FMS quite agrees. If the first UKBFF Physique champion is indicative of the quality of future winners, then Britain can expect to be well-represented internationally in this division.

And among the other competitors who made the top six on the day, Michelle Williams is FMS’ top tip for future Physique champion. Like Ria Ward, Michelle has come to the Physique class via unsuccessful outings in Body Fitness in competitions past, but unlike Ria (and so many other UK muscle women) Michelle is actually from the South of England (!) training herself and clients at the Resistance Gym in Bognor Regis.

I’m liking this girl more and more, wrote Rosie Harte. Nice feminine shape and classic, almost ’80s look to her presentation. Once again, we can’t fault Rosie’s trained eye. We’re liking Michelle a lot too, and if you agree with us and Rosie you might want to start following this potential future star via her Facebook and Instagram pages.

Attention-grabbing as Ria and Michelle were once the photos of the contest had started to go up, while I was glued to Rosie’s play-by-play descriptions as the contest was actually taking place, it was two women whose names didn’t appear among those who made the top six who were in my thoughts.

Northern Ireland’s Lesley-Ann Armstrong, NABBA World champion in 2012 (see FMS July 2012), had, along with Ria Ward, been a pre-contest favourite with most commentators. She had the contest experience, and a proven track record of getting her prep right for showtime. Just two weeks before the finals, she posted these images on her Facebook.

Unfortunately, attempts to actually find a picture of Lesley-Ann during the show have proved fruitless, so we’ll just have to go on another of Rosie’s comments that it was a shame that Lesley-Ann wasn’t in tighter condition. But even during the pre-judging, Rosie Harte had Ria Ward, Michelle Williams and Lesley-Ann as the ‘standouts’ in the class, and was surprised when Lesley-Ann wasn’t called out with Ria Ward for the first comparison round. A mystery indeed.

Meanwhile, FMS had been whipping themselves (and attempting to whip readers) into a frenzy of anticipation over teenage female muscle sensation Georgina McConnell‘s appearance at Harrogate for months now (see FMS posts past). However, we waited in vain for her name to appear even once on Rosie’s commentary. But Georgina herself cleared up the mystery as to why that was almost immediately.

The day after the contest, she posted this to her Instagram, bemoaning her body’s lack of timing: Aye just full up now! Not show day tho stupid body.

And a few days later, this mission statement appeared.

It’s comforting to know that Georgina isn’t too disappointed by her experience, and very exciting that she is still determined to ‘get hyoooge’. At the time of writing, Georgina says she’s Getting massive n fat n stuff, and her most recent Instagram post suggests that the ‘massive’ part is true, anyway.

But however great we continue to think Georgina is, this is, after all, a post about a contest, and it would be wrong of me not to finish by giving the last word to the winner. It feels amazing to be the first champion, Ria said afterwards. This class is perfect for me. And we think Ria’s perfect for the class!

In the year ahead, FMS is looking forward to seeing Georgina continuing her development, and to seeing Lesley-Ann Armstrong and Michelle Williams coming back next year better than ever. But most of all, FMS is really looking forward now to seeing Ria representing the UK internationally in the Physique class.

We reckon she’ll do us proud.

Tomorrow, UKBFF Part II, Bodybuilding.

Lesley Ann Armstrong

Not all Brits come second…

Between England’s quarter-final exit from the European Championships and the national day of mourning that was Andy Murray’s Wimbledon defeat, British female muscle fans were given cause to smile and celebrate (in our own private, insular way) a British World Champion.

While the better-known Oana Hreapca was cleaning up in the Physique class, Northern Ireland’s Lesley Ann Armstrong won the overall Trained Figure title, beating off Italian legend Flora Conte in the posedown.

The fact that her victory went completely unnoticed in the mainstream media was no surprise at all. But this isn’t going to be one of Slave’s rants against a society that has never acknowledged its champion bodybuilders (except Jodie Marsh, of course). Instead, here at Female Muscle Slave, we’d rather focus on the champion herself, not least because we consider this 28-year-old native of Coleraine to be one of the most exciting talents to emerge from these shores in many a year.

Given that only two years ago Lesley Ann was finishing second in the NABBA Northern Ireland, her achievement is all the more remarkable. And the fact that she was up against Conte, a woman with a proven track record of winning NABBA contests, only adds to that.

Despite her relative inexperience at the World level, even just a cursory glance at Lesley Ann on stage that weekend reveals that she was, indeed, in World Champion shape. It seems to this commentator that NABBA judges tend to pick the right winner far far more often than their IFBB or NPC counterparts, so, unlike in so many other female bodybuilding contests, there can be little debate about whether she deserved to win or not.

Slave’s feelings on Lesley Ann’s showing at the Worlds were later summed up by one extremely perceptive forum poster: My God! What a body! What a BOTTOM! Some people just have a knack of putting your thoughts into words, don’t they? And by the way, yet another reason to love NABBA – the thongs. As it was a NABBA contest, we got to enjoy Lesley Ann’s majestic, muscular rear in all its glory.

And there’s more good news, for those of you in Northern Ireland anyway. Lesley Ann is now running her own ‘Body Blast’ Classes in various locations across Northern Ireland. Spaces are (unsurprisingly) limited for current venues, so advanced booking is advised. And she also does personal training if you don’t want to share her. Details on the Team Musclecharge website.

In fact, Slave was convinced there was absolutely nothing negative to report about this wonderful woman until we watched an interview with her in which she mentions her boyfriend. Don’t watch it if it’s going to break your heart is our advice.

But aside from this one little detail, Slave wishes Lesley Ann every success in the future and extends the warmest congratulations on her victory. She’s done the country proud at a time when we have been a bit down in the sporting world, and we want to make sure that although it might seem that no one noticed, we certainly did.

And to make sure you all leave today with a smile on your face (and perhaps more besides) we leave you with the British entry for the 2012 Rear of the Year. Congratulations again to Lesley Ann, and well done NABBA – right result, right outfits.

Enjoy!