Part 20 - Ontario Championships, Prejudging

Vicky Robitaille & Sue

My weekend at the Toronto Pro SuperShow and Ontario Championships was absolutely amazing. The journey has ended but the stories still need to be told.

We arrived at the Intercontinental Hotel at around 2:30 pm on Friday. My spray tan with Jan Tana was interested. Only at a big event like this will you find men and women stripping down to nothing together to get sprayed. I shared my drying tent with a young lady named Jessica from Chicago who was at the SuperShow for the Oxygen Model Search. I promised her I'd be there on Sunday to support her at the competition.

Sue & Lynda Jager

After the spray tan, we headed over to the Metro Toronto Convention Centre for the competitor briefing which was to commence at 5:30 pm. As I stood outside the room, I noticed that some of the other ladies were wearing badges, so I asked what that was all about. I was told that registration was over and that I better get over there immediately. The information package indicated that registration and weigh-in was between 1:00 and 4:00 pm, but it was unclear that the figure competitors were supposed to be there. Normally, weigh-in is only for the bodybuilders to determine their weight division. Figure and bikini competitors are measured by height. This usually happens after the briefing.

When I went over to the registration room, they were shutting it down and I was told that I was out of the contest. In other words, go home and come back next year! WHAT??? My jaw dropped in disbelief. Then I realized that I had only two choices...put my head between my knees or beg them to let me in. Of course, I chose the latter. Anyone in my position would have done the same. As I stood there arguing with the officials that the info package was unclear, about 25 other women with the same dilemma gathered around to support me. One balled her eyes out, tears streaming down her face, she was hysterical. Everyone was yelling at each other, none of us willing to go down without a fight. Then suddenly, in the midst of the commotion, the door flew open and a pleasant woman greeted us and inviting us in to register. Whew! Inside the room, the staff made us feel welcome. A big thank you goes out to Rosa Valente for calming things down!

Getting my hair redone beside
the Jan Tana spray tan tents.

When we finally arrived at the competitor briefing, I froze when I saw that the official who I'd been arguing with was the head judge. Oops! Note to self...do not pick a fight with the head judge the day before a competition. Sorry Rudy, I promise it won't happen again. Where's that drink I've been looking forward to?

The morning of the show, we were up early for my second coat of spray tan at 5:30 am. My beautiful hairdo which Rosanne had so carefully done for me before leaving Ottawa had to come down during the night. It had gotten messed up because I had to tie it up for my first coat then couldn't sleep on the bobby pins. Melody, who works for Jan Tana, restyled it for me on the fly and I was good to go again.

Backstage waiting to go on

We had been told to be at the theatre by 8:30 am. There was no way I was going to be late, so we headed over to the John W.H. Bassett Theatre for 8 am. With 280 competitors backstage, it was crowded and full of adrenaline. Bodybuilders, physique athletes, fitness competitors, figure ladies and bikini models all shared common space. Even though the women had their own dressing rooms, the men were walking through them and nobody seemed to mind. Jan Tana had an area for glazing and touch-ups which people lined up for. There was a pump-up room somewhere but I didn't look for it since I'd brought my own dumbbells. You could see everyone checking out the competition and introducing each other. It was surreal to meet all the athletes who you'd been googling over the past year. There were coaches backstage and an incredible crew to control the chaos.

My classes weren't scheduled to get on-stage until about 3 hours into the prejudging. Vicky Robitaille and I made claim to a couple of chair near side stage and hung out most of the day. I'd just met Vicky and we were scheduled to compete together in Figure Short. The other person I passed time with was Lynda Jager who I'd competed with in Hamilton at my first competition in 2011. It's just an indication of how friendly it can be at these events. Ed had a backstage pass so he split his time between watching the prejudging and making sure I was okay.

Figure Short was the first of the figure classes to enter the stage. There were only 4 of us but we were all strong contenders. We were almost like clones of each other. We'd been warned at the briefing that scores would be adjusted if anyone was found to change their outfit between prejudging and finals, which I assumed also meant between divisions for anyone entered in more than one. I opted to put my 5 inch heels on for the whole event. I'd practiced walking in them but had hoped to only wear them for Grandmasters. Though it has a bit of a platform, it's still a tall heel to put on a size 5 foot.

There was no need for comparisons or call-outs for Figure Short, though they had us do our quarter turns twice and left us standing in one position for a long time. My stomach was grumbling and my knees started to shake. I hadn't eaten much because my nerves were shot. All I could think about was that I needed to get something in me before passing out and thereby sabotaging my chances in Grandmasters.

Ed was there for me and got me some oatmeal and chocolate bars. Meanwhile, Vicky was cramping and her nerve endings were tingling. The on-site masseur suggested that she was too dehydrated. While I got her some water, Ed ran to a store for salty potato chips. He had hoped for Miss Vickie's but had to settle for Lays!

By the time Grandmasters was up, I felt a whole lot better. There were 13 fabulous ladies, all over 45, lined up and we filed onto the stage together. The head judge split us into 2 groups for our quarter turns, then called out the comparisons. I did not make the first call-out. My heart sunk but I continued to smile. I knew right then that I wasn't going to place. I was in the second call-out which at least gave me hope that I wouldn't land near the bottom. We can't always tell what the judges are up to, but 9 times out of 10 the top placers are in the first call-out. Having said that, John Scott placed 5th in his division without making a single call-out in a huge line-up. There was still hope for me.

Ed left me alone for the better part of an hour after the prejudging to give me time to absorb everything that had just happened. It was hard work and I was exhausted and hungry. We went for a bite to eat then to the hotel room to relax before the finals.

It was going to be a long wait for the results..........