Contest Field Report: UBC1 First Blood

This event promises to change the way Filipinos view bodybuilding, and the inaugural competition certainly did just that. First off, the prize of 100,000 pesos or roughly 2,500 USD and a championship belt for the overall champion. This is arguably one of the biggest purse money in local bodybuilding history. Second, there was 10 compulsory poses to show off both the left and right limbs of the athletes. That's 3 more from the normal 7 compulsory poses. Third, the rival round, where an athlete will call out a competitor to do a pose of his choice. This will hopefully show off the athlete's strength or his competitor's weakness. Fourth, there is no 1 minute time limit to the posing routine - it is up to the athlete how long his posing routing will be. So you don't see  hurried and forced poses that does not sync with the music just so as to fit the whole routine in  1 minute. Last, but not the least is the live band which provides the added oomph, to the pose down portion. The pose down portion is actually for the audience, I don't think there is any judging happening at this point. Maybe on the next event, they can come down and pose near the audience just like in the Olympia.

I arrived at the venue early as I never been to this area of the metro before and was afraid to get lost.  I was  surprised with the place as I was expecting a mall like SM or Robinson's -- guess that's another stereotype broken.  Since it was a little after 2pm I decided to have lunch before proceeding to the foodcourt where the stage was setup.

After greeting the organizers, Mr. Lee Soriano and Mr. Rocky Dauden, and some bodybuilder friends who were assisting in the event, I went around backstage to see what's happening. It turned out that there were already a few competitors there resting, flexing and chatting.

After chatting with Lakay Smith, I was told that there was a good Baguio contingent competing in the event. This is a good sign, as the folks in Baguio are known for good muscle conditioning. In my mind, this will indeed be one great competition.

As the hours passed, more and more athletes arrived and did their registration and weigh in. An hour before the start time, I went front stage to get a good seat. By this time, they have started playing the UBC Anthem over the excellent sound system, light test was also being done, and the IWATA portable air conditioners was blowing cool air in the audience. This food court has a different vibe to it, I can only compare it to the now defunct uniwide cubao food court. Where it is actually an inuman kinda place, so a rowdy audience will sit in just fine.Some of the supporters actually had an inuman session while the contest was going on.

There were around 55 athletes that competed that night, most of them in the novice category. There was a little above 10 athletes in each weight division, except for the open category which had less than 5 if my memory is correct. Here are some preview of the novice line up before I go into the details of the top 5 of each category in the succeeding posts.

The overall winner was announced around 11pm, and the live band was still playing while I left the venue. The event was covered by PTV-4 and I saw Jonathan Casimiro being interviewed right after the competition.

Congratulations to the athletes and see you in UBC2 Ultimate Boracay - Insha'Allah