NATURALLY SPEAKING
by John Douglas
The Canadian Physique Alliance Natural Stream of competitions is alive and well .
Scheduled this year are 17 Regional Natural Shows , 2 Natural Pro Qualifiers and 1 Natural Pro Show . Virtually every province has at least 1 Natural Regional competition and plans are in the works to increase the coverage .
The Natural Stream in Canada started in a small way in Quebec and in Ontario in the late 1980 ’ s . The Cornwall Championships ( pictured here ) in 1990 promoted by Bill Kennedy , was where Ontario ’ s part in the natural movement took hold . With full support from Mark Baker ( then President- Bodybuilding Ontario ) and Sue Champagne ( Head Judge ) the Natural Stream continued to grow .
In 1992 the Natural movement found its champion . Ron Hache has been and continues to be instrumental in pushing the Natural Stream to grow . Natural shows , Level 1 to Nationals were being hosted in most regions in Ontario . Promoters like Winston Roberts and Jim Morris were on board and hosted the Natural Canadas and Natural Ontarios , respectively . Throughout this period Ron continued to push the Federation to host more Natural shows and by 2014 , the OPA boasted 8 contests with over 1,000 competitors .
The Natural Stream in Ontario continued to grow but the governing federations had not fully realized the potential for Natural contests or competitors . Ron never gave up on the Natural stream or the athletes who wished to compete clean . Through his association and friendship with Jim Manion of the IFBB Professional League , the vision Ron and his supporters shared would come to fruition .
In 2018 when the transition to the CPA was complete Ron continued to pressure the IFBB ’ s Jim Manion and was rewarded with a sanction for a Natural Pro Qualifier . With the new qualification system put in place by the CPA , the Natural Ontario ’ s were replaced with the Canadian Natural Pro Qualifier and was open to all qualified natural competitors in Canada . The choice was made to have our own Head Judge Rudy Jambrosic promote this event . With a wealth of competitors , a great deal of promoting and suppport from the President , the first ever Natural Canada IFBB Pro Qualifier took place in Toronto and hosted over 500 competitors from across the nation . As the natural movement was deemed to be wildly successful , a Natural Pro Show was not far off . We ’ ll explore that in the next issue .
Congratulations are necessary for a group of individuals like Mark Baker , Sue Champagne , Jim Morris , Winston Roberts , Rudy Jambrosic and others for having the faith and foresight to push tehse contests , but a special salute to Ron Hache for being persistent and unrelenting in the quest to make Canada a forerunner for Natural contests .
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