by John Plummer

Photography by Kevin Horton

You can view and buy photos of this event here: https://www.ukbffphotos.com/2019/SUGARS-CLASSIC

Alternatively, you can buy all the images of a competitor as a package by clicking here: https://www.ukbff.co.uk/ukbff-photos

Perhaps the most exciting and turbulent decade in bodybuilding history drew to a domestic close with the Sugar's Classic.

It's difficult to imagine now but back in 2009, men's physique and bikini fitness didn't exist – never mind wellness, women's physique, classic physique and muscular men's physique. All are now firmly established on the running order.

This event, named after UKBFF vice-president Dennis 'Sugar' Christopher, at the superb DeMontfort Hall in Leicester may have marked the end of one decade but many of those involved look equipped to make their own history in the years ahead.

There were some superb physiques, and with invitations to the Arnold Classic Africa, Arnold Classic Europe and various Diamond Cups up for grabs, there is no lack of opportunities to showcase them and aim for some big prizes.

Further evidence of the international nature of the UKBFF and the IFBB was provided this weekend, when UK bikini fitness star Lisa-Marie Graham won the IFBB Elite Pro Masters in Rome, Kat Jacubcova was fifth. Masters bikini fitness competitor Meg Lawrence was also on stage at the Diamond Cup India.

A total of 124 entrants lined-up in Leicester. Leicester city councillor Ross Willmott opened the event, which also saw Kie West awarded his IFBB Elite Pro card in recognition of his victory at the recent British Championships.

BODYBUILDING

The over 50s class rarely makes the headlines but then again it rarely features a match-up like this: British champion Neal Wiles v Nick Swann, who is preparing for the IFBB World Masters Championships. The top three all had incredible cut legs and Dariusz Zuk, in third, would have won many a contest. But this boiled down to a shoot-out between two titans with a combined age of over 100. Neal, whose height and back width make him a formidable opponent, took first while Nick got valuable stage time ahead of his main goal in a month's time.

In the over 40s, Keith Nimo once again delighted the crowd with his brilliant posing – he also pleased the judges, coming in tighter than at the British. But Keith still had to settle for second behind Stuart Beveridge, who had a monstrous amount of muscle and had peaked to perfection.

Karel Moreno got everyone talking with his British Championships middleweight victory a month ago and he did it again here. Runner-up Reza Shokri pushed him hard – he was really on the money with a shredded, muscle-packed physique.

Joey Mongoreery, a well put together lightweight, took the up to 70 kg class; Ammar Cole shed a tear or two when his X frame was announced first in the up to 90 kg class and Aurimas Rimkevicius' balanced and vascular body slayed the over 90 kg line-up.

Classic bodybuilding winner Angad Singh was pure class. He’s not the biggest guy but he is pure quality and his conditioning was spot on.

Dane McGregor made the long journey from Perth in Scotland worthwhile by topping a tight, high quality classic physique line-up. Dane isn't the biggest guy but he has an appealing classic shape, which he presents extremely well.

MEN'S PHYSIQUE

Internet sensation Ross Dickerson, who has 1.4m followers on Instagram, registered a convincing win in muscular men's physique. There's something about this class that seems to attract celebrities – former Love Island contestant Harley Judge won last month's British Championships. There's little doubt Ross has the potential to have a shot at doing likewise next year if he brings the shredder again.

A week after just missing out on the top 10 at the IFBB Men's Amateur World Championships in the United Arab Emirates, lawyer Kishan Patel took first place in the up to 173 cm height class, with a fresh looking physique that showed no sign of jet lag.

Jai Bangash is building a reputation as a serious force. He took the up to 179 cm class here with another impressive display of well sculpted muscle and detail. Adewale Balogun took the over 179 cm class with an effervescent performance – his physique had plenty of pop and so did he as he displayed real stage presence, not to mention a sliced torso.

In the juniors, runner-up Remy Lane brought outstanding conditioning to the stage but the winner, David Baah, had a little more fullness, especially in the chest.

The standard of masters men's physique has probably improved more than any over the last year or so, and this class illustrated it, with a tremendous top three all combining tight, six-packed waists with visual aesthetics. The consistently excellent Deepak Verma had to content himself with second to Seyed Shah, who is almost unstoppable at this level.

FEMALE CLASSES

Emi Wokoma made a successful return to the bodyfitness stage after 14 months off. Whether it's because she's an actor or just has a damn amazing body, Emi is one of the most hypnotic physique athletes around right now – you just can't take your eyes off her. Her breathtaking proportions earned victory ahead of the impressive shape of Monika Suszynska. Suz Ferreira was third – a position she also achieved in masters bodyfitness thanks to her incredibly well sculpted and lean lower body.

Wellness, which was the fastest growing female class last season, continues to grow. There was a terrific new champion for the new season in the shape of Iren Finna, who really has got a tremendous set of quads and glutes. Iren's conditioning was spot on too.

Hayley Irwin set the tone in bikini fitness by winning the juniors with an attractive, toned and healthy-looking muscular shape.

Tall beauty Federica Wootton sported a new hair style but a familiar looking high class physique to take the over 169 cm class; Scottish beauty Steph Richardson made a big impression when she won in Dundee in the summer and she was even better here, looking leaner – definitely a woman with potential. Short class winner Samantha Ellis also wowed the crowd with nicely balanced shape and conditioning.

RESULTS

Junior Men's Physique

1 David Baah

2 Remy Lane

3 Jagroop Sangha

Wellness

1 Iren Finna

2 Amy Martin

3 Jade Bullock

also competed: Abigail Lambert, Anna Stanekova, Soraya Nur, Jemmineese Dunn and Vesta Pelakauskaite

Masters Bodybuilding over 40

1 Stuart Beveridge

2 Keith Nimo

3 Rafal Kwiatkowski

also competed: Andy Lowton, Peter Masha, Piotr Olekszy and Nadeem Din

Masters Bodybuilding over 50

1 Neal Wiles

2 Nick Swann

3 Dariusz Zuk

also competed: Dean Marris, Marvin Sam Sleimann, Jonathan Hughes, Carlton Rodney and Peter Banks

Masters Men's Physique over 40

1 Seyed Shah

2 Deepak Verma

3 Shiraz Mirza

also competed: Ben Wilson, Liam Gol and James Lever

Masters Bikini Fitness over 35

1 Ksenia Morris

2 Stefanie Blackburn

3 Samantha Ellis

also competed: Andrea Jones, Martine Warmann, Alysa Milton, Catherine Lennard, Jurgita Valhikate, Samantha Duncan Smith and Catherine Sanders

Masters Bodyfitness

1 Leanne Grace Costa

2 Magda Szymanska

3 Suz Ferreira

also competed: Lyndsay Dickerson and Lee Hamilton-Thomas

Classic Bodybuilding

1 Angad Singh

2 Joza Jakub

3 Rus Ali

also competed: Anthony Larson, Vinnie Thurairasv and Piotr Olekszy

Bodyfitness

1 Emi Wokoma

2 Monika Suszynska

3 Suz Ferreira

also competed: Paulina Pacholewicz, Lee Hamilton-Thomas and Lyndsay Dickerson

Bodybuilding up to 70 kg

1 Joey Mongoreery

2 Dean Larkin

3 Anthony Dacres

also competed: Nav 'Sword' Almashan and Craig Earley

Bodybuilding up to 80 kg

1 Karel Moreno

2 Reza Shokri

3 Dave Neill

4 Adam Young

5 Niall Donegan

Bodybuilding up to 90 kg

1 Ammar Cole

2 Ali Dernaw

3 Dainius Eidukaitis

also competed: Scott Mangel, William Morris and Peter Bennett

Bodybuilding over 90 kg

1 Aurimas Rimkevicius

2 Reza Hagipoud

3 Martin Herz

also competed: Jake Pinchers and Craig Wilkinson

Classic Physique

1 Dane McGregor

2 Joe Bourne

3 Majid Alhammadi

also competed: Oliver Hewitt, Bartlomiej Kot, Laurynas Celna and Vlad Vinogradovs

Bikini Fitness up to 164 cm

1 Samantha Ellis

2 Abigail Lambert

3 Karrie-ann McBride

also competed: Ksenia Morris and Martine Warmann

Bikini Fitness up to 169 cm

1 Steph Richardson

2 Samantha Duncan Smith

3 Elizabeth Slater

also competed: Alysa Milton and Leanne Gensley

Bikini Fitness over 169 cm

1 Federica Wootton

2 Tereza Sukova

3 Justyna Lopatecka

Muscular Men's Physique

1 Ross Dickerson

2 Mehdi Tehrani

3 Krzysztof Kasprzykoswki

also competed: Nawas Alaredhi and Gurj Bhogal

Men's Physique up to 173 cm

1 Kishan Patel

2 Seyed Shah

3 Jasam Ahmed

also competed: Alexander Thomas, Liam Gol, Estanis Berbegal and Omar Sadik

Men's Physique up to 179 cm

1 Jai Bangash

2 Saeed Kazaal

3 Pavel Brazevic

also competed: Oli Reynoldson, Abbas Pooladvand, Vincent Samuel, Shub Ghosh and Karanvir Virk

Men's Physique over 179 cm

1 Adewale Balogun

2 Mahesh Vekasiya

3 Deanne Campbell

also competed: Abdulla Azizi