GREAT LIFT: Champion Masterton masters bodybuilder Deon Smith. PHOTO/SUPPLIED
GREAT LIFT: Champion Masterton masters bodybuilder Deon Smith. PHOTO/SUPPLIED
Champion Masterton bodybuilder Deon Smith has returned exhausted but bearing laurels after a transtasman world contest bid that caps eight months of competition training and crash dieting.
Smith, 42, who trains at Wai Weight Gymnasium in Masterton, said he was more than satisfied with his sixth placing in the 85to 90kg Superbodies class at the WFF World Championships Bodybuilding Championships, which was held at the Twin Towns Services Club in Tweed Heads, NSW, this month.
He had weighed in at 88.5kg for the contest "against some of the best in the world" and the outing was the culmination of a campaign that netted him a series of Masters class gold medals at contests throughout New Zealand this year.
"I made it to the worlds and that was my goal. Now it's over - done - and I'm glad it's finished. I've been to four competitions since May this year and I'm exhausted. Now it's time to rest."
Smith, who works as a leading hand at Breadcraft bakery and as a personal trainer, said he and campaign manager and wife Robyn Omundsen Smith were planning on shifting to Australia in a year or two and he was retiring from competing in New Zealand.
Smith won a gold medal in the masters class over 40/90kg plus athletic section at the Nabba/WFF Christchurch Grand Prix on May 17 when he launched his bid for a place at the world championships.
In September he took gold at the masters men over 40 category at the National Amateur Bodybuilders Association World Fitness Federation (Nabba/WFF) Championships in Wellington, and again took gold in the masters men over 40 class at the NABBA/WFF National Championships in Auckland early last month.
Smith said he had developed a bad cold during the transtasman contest and was relieved he was able to rest and recover and was yet to return to the gymnasium.
"I haven't touched a weight for a couple of weeks but I will get back in to it soon. I'm set on recovery first then I'll start again, only a little differently this time. I'll focus on strengthening and the next comp I enter will be in Australia."
