Arnold Classic AU – Part 1

Arnold’s Weekend – 2 Part Blog!

As many of you know I recently competed at the Arnold Classic in Melbourne!

Over my next few blogs I will share with you my whole Arnold Classic AU experience!

The ups and downs, the crazy moments and life changing moments!

Day 1 – Travel & Lead Up to Show Day 

Thursday 17^th March 2016

It’s finally here! The day I’ve been waiting for, the weekend I’ve been prepping and working my butt off for! IT’S FINALLY HERE.

My day of travel starts at 3am.  At this point it’s early but I AM SO EXCITED!

I was travelling with my Best Friend Fran and my Mum Theresa. We arrived in Melbourne at 11:30am where we met my other Best Friend Jake and we headed straight to our hotel to check in.

(I wore compression socks and tights to make sure I had no fluid retention after my flight.)

I had a few things to do to prepare for Friday’s show. First I had to head off to the convention centre for registration.

At registration they check your height and you receive your athlete wristband. My height check came in at 158.5cm and this put me in the Short Class (163cm & Under).

This is my last show as a Novice competitor!

Bikini Novice 163cm & Under 

After registration I had a quick check-in with my coach Mike, and then Fran, Jake and I explored Melbourne for a couple of hours. This was my first time in Melbourne and I LOVED it so much! I can’t wait to go back!

I had my final check in with Mike at 8:30pm and I got the green light! We are all good to go! Nerves hadn’t started it kick in yet… I was surprisingly calm!

Day 2 – Show Day PART 1

Friday 19th March 2016

4:30am Wake Up… ITS SHOW DAY! Melbourne has put on some great weather… It was cold and raining! I had my tan, hair and makeup at 6:30am with Hannah and the team at Shique Beauty.

I was SO happy with my makeup and my hair. I truly felt a million dollars leaving the girls!

Getting to the convention centre was a mission! I walked downstairs and it was still RAINING heavily and so windy outside! Obviously I had to make sure I didn’t get wet because of my tan! So I put on my poncho and went to call a taxi but got talking to a man that had been waiting for a taxi for 30 minutes!! He offered for me to jump in with him when the taxi finally got there! He was a lifesaver; I was so worried I was going to be late!

We got talking and his name was Henry. As it turns out, Henry is a power lifting coach who has athletes competing at the Arnolds! SO cool to already be meeting amazing people – considering I wasn’t even at the expo yet.

We finally got to the expo and I looked ridiculous in my poncho, long pants & robe… haha.

Bikini Show

I was less than impressed by my show day on the Gold Coast, so coming into this event I made sure I was more relaxed and a lot more focused before stepping on stage. I was waiting for what felt like forever; back stage was was busy with tonnes of bikini athletes everywhere. We set ourselves up in a corner and I fell asleep! I had my headphones in and listened to music. I am always so nervous before stepping on stage so it’s nice be able to chill out beforehand.

We finally got our numbers – I was number 96 for my Bikini Show! Once we had our numbers it was time to pump up. Once I was side-stage it all happened so quickly. We pumped up and were called out.

We were on stage for such a short period of time and once we filled off the finalist list was quickly read out. The lady had told us ‘if I call your name, you have not made it through. Please grab your things and leave’ I thought this was harsh but I had thought at the time I had at least made it to finals.

My name was read out! I didn’t make it! I was so devasted. I quickly walked over, texted Fran and told her I didn’t make it. I was so upset, Fran met me backstage and I couldn’t even speak. We went and found Mike and I balled my eyes out. Mike hugged me & gave me some very kind & encouraging words. I cried for about 5 minutes, I couldn’t shake how upset I was. Winning isn’t everything, but I still really wanted to do well and I thought my stage presentation was my best to date.

After Mike’s kind words and me trying to pull myself together we heard over the PA system, ‘Can the following competiors please return back stage immediately’. She listed off a few names and then I heard 96 Naomi Glover…

I’ve never got up quicker! I don’t think I even said one word to Mike, I ran past Fran and grabbed my bag… I was so excited!

Once I got back stage they informed me they had made a mistake and the competitors that were called away were actually the finalists!! So I literally had a couple of minutes to put my heels back on, wipe away my tears and pump up again.

Finals again ran super quick, we had a few call outs, ran through our quarter turns a few times and again filled off stage.

I made TOP 6!

We were back on stage and I was placed 6^th (Photos below).

I am super proud of myself and my placing!

I had such an amazing support crew with me at Arnolds! My best friends Fran and Jake, Narelle, Tayna, Patrick and of course my number 1 supporter my Mum!

Having them with me at my shows means the world to me!

Part 2 of my blog will be up later in the week! I’ll share my Model Search experience, Pro Show fun & meeting Arnold Schwarzenegger!

N x