Author Topic: Where are they now?  (Read 37380 times)

racerx009

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Where are they now?
« on: December 01, 2008, 12:50:27 PM »
Hey everyone, I'm new to the site and I must say it's really impressive. I've long been a fan of female bodybuilding but feel that it's heyday was during the time I first encountered the sport in the 1980's. I know that Cory won most of the trophies back then but none were more impressive to me than Clare Furr who in my view got robbed in both the '85 and '86 Ms. Olympia. Does anyone here know what became of her? After placing second at the '86 Olympia she never competed again.

ripitupbaby

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Re: Where are they now?
« Reply #1 on: December 02, 2008, 04:33:28 AM »
I never really knew much about her, no idea where she is now.  But I did find this video of her posing routine from the 1986 Ms. Olympia...great choice of music!   8)

Interesting how they talk about the Ms. Olympia being drug tested at that time.  Clare's still got a considerable amount of muscle on her. 





:)

racerx009

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Re: Where are they now?
« Reply #2 on: December 02, 2008, 09:00:02 AM »
Thanks for the response Ripitupbaby. Yeah I've seen that video as well. Of all the bodybuilders that claimed to compete "clean" back then Furr was probably one of the legitimate ones. She broke down her dietary regiment in Gold's Bodybuilding Nutritional Bible (published 21 years ago) which seemed to indicate that she'd used her background as a chemical engineer to design a program to maximize what she could naturally attain. Furr even eschewed the use of over-the-counter supplements as I recall as well. 

Though she seemed ready to breakout big time after placing second to Cory in '86 (an injustice) she just kind of dropped out of sight afterwards. What I remember reading at the time was that she married and had twins after a difficult pregnancy but that the marriage fell apart. She also briefly relocated to the New Jersey area to manage a gym but that didn't work out. That's literally the last thing I've heard about her and this info is at least 20 years old. The one person who might have a clue is women's bodybuilding historian Steve Wennerstrom but he oddly enough has almost zero internet presence as far as blogs or forums are concerned--in fact in a note to Lisa Auckland at her site he makes the point that he will not visit bodybuilding message boards, forums, or blogs. Like I said... odd. 

ripitupbaby

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Re: Where are they now?
« Reply #3 on: December 02, 2008, 12:36:54 PM »
Steve W is around the internet...I may actually be able to get an answer from him for you.  I'll see what I can do.  :)

In the meantime, here's her interview from the Ms. Olympia.


:)

racerx009

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Re: Where are they now?
« Reply #4 on: December 02, 2008, 02:02:38 PM »
I'd greatly appreciate that Ripitupbaby, thanks again.

racerx009

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Re: Where are they now?
« Reply #5 on: December 06, 2008, 12:35:51 PM »
Any luck on my query Rip?

racerx009

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Re: Where are they now?
« Reply #6 on: December 06, 2008, 04:22:56 PM »
Ripitupbaby I've got Steve's e-mail address after all and will contact him shortly about a little project I'd like to put together. It's still in the exploratory phase right now but I'll keep you posted.

ripitupbaby

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Re: Where are they now?
« Reply #7 on: December 06, 2008, 07:45:13 PM »
Cool, racer, let me know.  I did some snooping around to try to locate Steve on a couple of messageboards I thought he was on, but I haven't had much luck, and I don't have an email address for him.  Good luck getting in touch with him! 


:)

racerx009

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Re: Where are they now?
« Reply #8 on: December 07, 2008, 06:05:53 PM »
Not sure why those videos above have timed out so I'll leave the links for those who still want to check them out.

Interview:


Posing routine:
&feature=related

Pose down:

benz

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Re: Where are they now?
« Reply #9 on: December 07, 2008, 06:07:06 PM »
racerx009

You can always visit www.musclememory.com , i think you can find some updates over there
.

racerx009

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Re: Where are they now?
« Reply #10 on: December 08, 2008, 03:42:27 AM »
Thanks for the tip Benz.

benz

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Re: Where are they now?
« Reply #11 on: December 08, 2008, 07:34:05 AM »
.

racerx009

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Re: Where are they now?
« Reply #12 on: December 11, 2008, 07:50:25 AM »
Mystery solved, Clare is well.

ripitupbaby

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Re: Where are they now?
« Reply #13 on: December 11, 2008, 01:59:51 PM »
Mystery solved, Clare is well.


Is that all the info we get?   ???
:)

racerx009

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Re: Where are they now?
« Reply #14 on: December 11, 2008, 09:40:36 PM »
Sorry about that Rip, I was in a rush. Clare now resides in Texas with her (relatively) new husband. She divorced the father of her twins over a decade ago and resettled in the Lone Star state about eight years ago. Her kids are both outstanding collegiate scholar/athletes and are doing very well. Still waiting to hear back from Steve on a few questions that are still unanswered however. For example, she didn't have her twins until 1990 so I'm still unclear as to the reasons she didn't compete in the '87 & '88 Ms. Olympia. In any event I've been in touch with Bill Jentz, an editor of WPW Online and they are attempting to contact some of the competitors from the golden age such as Janice Ragain, Mary Roberts, Furr, etc for update interviews. Some of these questions can really only be answered by the women themselves. I'll keep you posted.

ripitupbaby

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Re: Where are they now?
« Reply #15 on: December 16, 2008, 05:31:38 PM »
Sorry about that Rip, I was in a rush. Clare now resides in Texas with her (relatively) new husband. She divorced the father of her twins over a decade ago and resettled in the Lone Star state about eight years ago. Her kids are both outstanding collegiate scholar/athletes and are doing very well. Still waiting to hear back from Steve on a few questions that are still unanswered however. For example, she didn't have her twins until 1990 so I'm still unclear as to the reasons she didn't compete in the '87 & '88 Ms. Olympia. In any event I've been in touch with Bill Jentz, an editor of WPW Online and they are attempting to contact some of the competitors from the golden age such as Janice Ragain, Mary Roberts, Furr, etc for update interviews. Some of these questions can really only be answered by the women themselves. I'll keep you posted.


Thanks so much for the info and the update!

Hey, if you have a chance to poke around, I'd LOVE to find out where Lynn Conkwright is and what she's up to.  She was in the Ms. Olympia from 1980-1984-ish or somewhere in that time frame.  She was my gymnastics coach 1986-1988 and really introduced me to women's BB.  I remember she used to practice her routine for us when she was getting ready for some competitions...I remember some sort of World Championship during that time frame that she was preparing for.  I lost touch with her after that...would love to let her know that I got into BB and still think of her influence.   :)

:)

racerx009

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Re: Where are they now?
« Reply #16 on: December 18, 2008, 09:46:07 AM »
I'll snoop around Rip.

racerx009

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Re: Where are they now?
« Reply #17 on: December 18, 2008, 10:49:59 AM »
Let me know if you got the PM Rip.

ripitupbaby

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Re: Where are they now?
« Reply #18 on: December 19, 2008, 04:14:19 AM »
Let me know if you got the PM Rip.

No PM racer...  ???

:)

racerx009

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Re: Where are they now?
« Reply #19 on: December 19, 2008, 09:26:55 AM »
I've tried sending the message again Rip. It seems that when I compose the message, enter the code demonstrating that I'm not a 'bot, then press the "send message" button... nothing happens. Am I doing something wrong?

ripitupbaby

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Re: Where are they now?
« Reply #20 on: December 19, 2008, 05:02:22 PM »
I've tried sending the message again Rip. It seems that when I compose the message, enter the code demonstrating that I'm not a 'bot, then press the "send message" button... nothing happens. Am I doing something wrong?


Nope, I got it now, thank you.  :)

I hate that code thing on the PMs... I don't have it on my account (at least not this account  :D) but it's a pain.  I don't know if you can make it stop doing that or if Ron put that on all newer accounts.


:)

racerx009

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Re: Where are they now?
« Reply #21 on: December 19, 2008, 05:42:41 PM »
Let me know how it goes Rip. That info should be up to date.

racerx009

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Re: Where are they now?
« Reply #22 on: December 26, 2008, 08:21:27 AM »
Maybe getting closer to that project I hinted at awhile back regarding Furr, Deanna Panting, and perhaps Janice Ragain among others from their era participating in a forum about the golden age of women's bodybuilding as well as its current direction. Steve Wennerstrom is the key and he's being contacted now about it by WPW Online. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

ripitupbaby

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Re: Where are they now?
« Reply #23 on: December 29, 2008, 07:42:37 PM »
Maybe getting closer to that project I hinted at awhile back regarding Furr, Deanna Panting, and perhaps Janice Ragain among others from their era participating in a forum about the golden age of women's bodybuilding as well as its current direction. Steve Wennerstrom is the key and he's being contacted now about it by WPW Online. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Sounds great racer, thanks.  :)
:)

racerx009

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Re: Where are they now?
« Reply #24 on: January 11, 2009, 06:19:31 PM »
Still waiting on Steve...