REPS, Good to hear you were at the NA. I have a couple of questions about that contest that you may be willing to respond to.
1. How was the audience turnout being that it was held on a Wednesday evening?
2. Was there any discussion about that among the viewing fans?
3. What is Bumstead's height?
4. Do you think he will be a better physique or a better bodybuilding contender in future IFBB events?
Thanks, Reps
Hi stunt,
Sorry it's taken me so long to reply but I'm a very busy guy. Regarding your questions:
1. A minor point but his contest category was on Thursday and Thursday night. Wednesday was the Pro Masters (which was the main reason I went) and the Amateur Physique and Classic categories. Friday and Saturday were all devoted to the women's categories. Overall this was a big contest, I think there were over 1000 competitors. As for audience turn out, I really think there were more people for the pre-judging on Thursday morning than there were for the finals on Thursday night. Ticket prices might have had something to do with that: prejudging was only $30 evening finals were $60 and $70. I don't know how many were in the audience for the Saturday night women's finals as I didn't stay for that. Whether the men's finals on a Saturday night would've drawn more versus a Thursday night? I'm not sure it would've made that much difference given that I don't think the general public comes out to contests. Maybe the women's categories outdraw the men's?
2. I don't know if there was any discussion among the audience about the above. I didn't talk to many people and this subject never came up.
3. I don't know how tall Bumstead is but he's above the usual 5'8" - 5'9".
4. This is a really good question. I'm not a judge or a fortuneteller. Bumstead was in the Heavyweight class which maxes out at 225. The way the Pros are headed nowadays, up towards 250-300 pounds, he's going to have to put on a lot of size. He sure can't go down to the 212's that's for the short guys. There may be a big future in the Classic category. It will be interesting to see how this category plays at the upcoming Mr. Olympia. One interesting thing about this Pittsburgh contest was that there were numerous crossovers from the Physique category into the Classic category.