Topic: News: Locals Attend Arnold To Be Entertained and Inspired

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

Local People Attend Arnold Fitness Expo To Be Entertained, Inspired
By Jeremy Fogt, jfogt@mariettatimes.com

COLUMBUS — The Arnold Schwarzenegger Classic, which initially began as a men’s bodybuilding competition, normally conjures up images of brawny muscleheads like the iconic Governator.

But in the 36 years since the first Classic, the event has grown into the largest fitness festival in the world, from a small bodybuilding show to an entire weekend of sports, fitness and health-related events.

Over the course of the past weekend, more than 15,000 competitors competed in 30 separate events ranging from gymnastics to martial arts to table tennis, according to event organizers.

Sarah-Brooke Mankins, a Marietta College senior, attended the festival with her family to support her 5-year-old sister’s cheerleading team, but left enjoying the other aspects of the fitness expo.

“I was really overwhelmed by everything that was there, there was so much going on at once,” said Mankins, 22, of Huntington, W.Va. “It was all really interesting, especially the weightlifting. I probably wouldn’t have known about it if it weren’t for my sister’s competition, but I would definitely go back in the future.”

Mankins said the only comparable experience she’s had with a big fitness event was a Universal Dance Association competition she attended at Disney World, but it was “nothing of this magnitude, the (Arnold expo) was just huge.”

Marietta resident Mark Piatt, of 118 Arbogate Drive, Marietta, made plans to attend the event’s cheerleading competition on Sunday to support the Marietta College team his wife coaches, but went a day early specifically to check out the expo.

“I’ve never been to anything like that,” Piatt said. “I’ve always been interested in bodybuilding and had respect for the dedication it takes. I wanted to check the expo out and see what there was to offer that could benefit me.”

Piatt, who has been active in various forms of athletics and fitness for much of his life, said that he would describe the expo as “unbelievable” and that he’d “definitely go back next year.”

New events for the 2006 sports festival included boxing, figure and speed skating, hockey, volleyball, wrestling, archery, fencing, and table tennis.

More than 650 companies and vendors attended the 2006 expo to promote and peddle their wares to both fitness junkies and casual passers-by.

Rob Gilliand, owner of All Pro Nutrition in Marietta, has attended the event each year since 1997. He said he usually leaves with anywhere from a dozen to two dozen new items that he will stock in his store for the following year.

“We basically go up to see what new products are being offered,” he said. “We talk directly with the companies we carry and the distributors and people that take our orders every day, we get to know them a little better.”

“We’re able to check out the ingredients of the products and how they work, and become educated on what we sell.”

The first Arnold Classic was held in Columbus in 1989, and has since grown into the Arnold Sports Festival. The fitness contest began as a much smaller bodybuilding competition that Schwarzenegger won in 1970.

Dexter Jackson, of Jacksonville, Fla., took first place in the bodybuilding competition for the second year in a row, winning $100,000, a Ford sport utility vehicle, and a $20,000 watch. Though not competing, former three-time Classic winner Jay Cutler, of Las Vegas, Nev., eight-time Mr. Olympia winner Ronnie Coleman, of Texas, and former Mr. Universe Lou Ferrigno also made appearances at the event.

Several former Olympians, including Americans Paul Hamm and Blaine Wilson, made appearances, and Olympic hopefuls from the United States, China and Russia also competed.

Schwarzenegger came under fire in California last year for his work as an editor-in-chief to fitness magazines Flex and Muscle & Fitness, which derive most of their profits from many of the nutritional supplement companies that are also heavily promoted at the competition.

The governor cut his financial ties to both last July as he tried to distance himself from what his critics called a conflict of interest.

[Mark Cannella]

This is what the Arnold is all about.....

Bringing people together to further the sport of Weightlifting.

Mark