Dana Barlow returned to the Saskatchewan Amateur Bodybuilding Association provincials and turned in another strong showing on Saturday in Saskatoon.
The Estevan bodybuilder captured first place in the grand master men's bodybuilding category for the second straight year.
Barlow also replicated last year's success with another unanimous victory. Barlow won the event with five points.
"Eachyear, I have broughtmy best package to the stage," said Barlow. "Each year,I have grown and improved my physique. It means a lot to me to be able to improve eachyear, especially at my age, but I really do not let age hold me back or use it as an excuse."
Barlow also placed fourth in the middleweight men's bodybuilding category with 21 points. He said he had hoped to build on last year's second-place finish, when two of the seven judges had him in first.
"I train for first place, so I am always disappointed when I do not achieve my goal," said Barlow, "(but) after seeing my competition, I knew I would be lucky to even place, so I was not surprised at the fourth-place finish."
Barlow noted that it's the second year in a row that the middleweight champion has won the overall men's title, making it "a very competitive class."
Barlow began training for provincials a week after last year's nationals in August. If not for a late change, he would not have competed in the middleweight event at all.
"I went through most of my contest prep preparing for the light heavyweight division. We did not believe I would be able to drop enough weight to get down to middleweight this year," Barlow explained.
"It was only in the last two weeks that my coach and I decided that I should drop 10 more pounds and do middleweight again.So the last two weeks were pretty draining with the cardio and carb depleting, but I did reach my goal weight.
"The rest of the season was heavy workouts and eating clean, but with the goal to gain size, then 12 weeks out I started to diet down and lost 35 pounds to be ripped for (the) stage."
There were nine other athletes registered from Estevan for provincials, two of them also earning first-place finishes, and Barlow said he was impressed with the group.
"I am so very proud of everyone from Estevan. I watch most of them train and diet down for the novice and provincials shows. They all brought great physiques to the stage. Many of them placed and the rest were in very competitive classifications. They are all champions for having gone through the contest prep."
Barlow will now take a brief break from dieting and training, then begin preparing for nationals on July 6 in Halifax.
Among other local athletes, Maureen Gervais was first out of three in the women's physique division with seven points.
Conchita Humphreys took first place in the junior women's category, as the only person competing in that event.
Chris Istace finished second in a field of four in the welterweight men's bodybuilding category, receiving nine points from the judges.
Estevan's Melissa Schachtel tied for sixth place in the women's bikini short category, in a field of 15, with 32 points.
Tianna Gervais was 11th in the same event, scoring 82 points.
Efe Omene placed fourth in a field of eight in the heavyweight men's category, receiving 21 points.
Hailey Pehl was fifth out of seven in the women's bikini medium category, with 23 points.
In the women's figure tall category, Chalsey Anderson placed sixth out of eight with a score of 29 points.
Shanda Tegart took ninth place out of 11 in the women's figure short category, with 43 points.
