2007 FAME Championships


2007 FAME North American Championships, Miami Beach, FL, November 2-4

As one tropical storm left the area, another one arrived when 165 men and women athletes stormed Miami Beach this past weekend to compete in the 2007 FAME North American Championships at the Gusman Center for the Performing Arts. This stately venue, which opened in 1926, was ready to host the biggest and last stop on the 2007 FAME World Tour.

Athletes from Canada, Australia, South America and the United States vied for the coveted title of FAME Champion in Bodybuilding, Fitness, Figure, Fitness Model Search, Muscle Model Search and Bikini Model Search. There were amateur competitions for all levels of experience, Novice, Junior, Open, Masters, Grand Masters and Physically Inspired.

More experienced athletes competed in the Advanced level, for the opportunity to win their WNSO Pro Card.

In the Men�??s Muscle competition, Alex Fontaine (Canada) took the Advanced Class and earned his WNSO Pro card. Victor Garcia (USA) took top honors in the Novice Class and Open Class.

Kevin Ashby & Wendy Carvalho-Ashlby (Canada) both are doctors; once again brought their beautiful choreography to the stage to capture the Pairs competition and superior bodybuilder Kyle Roberts (USA) moved the audience to hearty applause as he won the Physically Inspired Class. Kyle has to use a wheel chair after a severe football injury left him paralyzed from the waist down. He truly inspires.

Since Florida is known for its senior citizen population, there was a lot of interest in the Masters competitions. And each Master competitor brought his or her �??A�?? game to the Gusman Center stage.

Timothy Deemer (USA) captured the Masters Title and Daryl Crawford (USA) the Grand Masters title. In the Master Pro Class, John Rossman (USA) won his class, while Scott �??Old Navy�?? Hults (USA) captured the Grand Master Pro Class title. Scott is called �??Old Navy�?? because he is a retired U.S. Navy Captain.

Washington Zambrano (USA) was the top Open Pro and claimed the title, FAME North American Pro Champion. Washington�??s daughter thinks her dad is Cool. Michael Elias, who earned his WNSO Pro card in 2005, tore his right pec and couldn�??t train for months. He made a great showing when he returned to the FAME stage for the first time as a Pro.

In the Women�??s Muscle class, Kari Green (Canada) won the Open class, Kirsten Groody (Canada) the Advanced class and her WNSO Pro Card, and Vivianne Malette (Canada) is the Pro Masters winner.

The Fitness class saw Brooke Sharpton (USA) win the Junior, Lindsay Koller (USA) the Novice and Sarah Koeslag (Canada) the Advanced and her WNSO Pro Card.

In Figure, the Miami Beach stage was graced with four beautiful ladies from Down Under. Ellena Tsatsos (Australia) won the Novice class, Wendy Carvalho-Ashby (Canada) the Open class and Ava Cowan became a new WNSO Pro when she won the Advanced class.

The Pro Figure competition was won by Maci Zimmerman (Canada) and Ruby Carter Pikes (USA) took the Pro-Masters title. Ruby does not look her age, 60.

Two classes of Bikini Model showed their style, with the Open won by Ella Magers (USA) and the Pro Bikini Model class winner was Ainsley McSorley (Canada)

By far the largest group of athletes competed in the Fitness Model Division.

Women�??s Classes �?? First Place Winners:
Novice �?? Luciana Pursell (USA) �?? Determination made this Lady a Winner.
Open-Short �?? Tammy Treppeda (USA) �?? This lady is tough. Pro quality.
Open-Tall �?? Tiffany Gaston (USA)
Advanced �?? Kamber Lindenbach (Canada) New WNSO Pro
Masters �?? Danielle Carrington (USA) New WNSO Pro �?? Martha Stewart is her boss.
Pro �?? Diana Chaloux (USA)
Master Pro �?? Marie Newton (Canada)

Men�??s Classes - First Place Winners:
Open Short �?? Jeff Richards (USA)
Open Tall �?? Phil Williams (USA)
Advanced �?? Andrew Judson (Canada) New WNSO Pro
Masters �?? John Rossman (USA) New WNSO Master Pro
Pro �?? Kendall Wood (USA) �?? Kendall overcame severe asthma and a leg injury.

The competition rounded out with the new Muscle Model Division. In the Women�??s Class, Wendy Carvalho-Ashby (Canada) won the Open and her WNSO Pro Card. Marci Zimmerman (Canada) captured the Pro title. For the men, Cham Pierre (USA) won his WNSO Pro Card when he took the Open class and Kendall Wood (USA) won his second Pro title in this show.

The competition on Saturday was sandwiched between two fun-filled events. On Friday a large group of Athletes hit the Beach with cameramen from NBC�??s Telemundo and representatives from Fruit of the Loom who were filming a segment for a TV show featuring the athletes of FAME in a Battle of the Sexes. Locals and tourists stopped to watch the action as video camera rolled and still cameras clicked to capture some of the industry�??s hottest models and athletes playing and posing.

On Sunday, an even larger group of athletes gathered on the sand at the water�??s edge to do a video and still photo shoot. What was supposed to last a couple of hours ran most of the day. No one was ready to leave this paradise, at least for a little while.

All in all, the 2007 FAME North American Championships was a great competition and provided a grand weekend in Miami Beach. Sweet! And what�??s even sweeter is the 2008 North American Championships will return to Miami on October 31st �?? November 2nd.

For more information on the 2008 FAME World Tour, please visit the web site, www.wowFAME.com.