BARRIE—A Sheshegwaning First Nation band member, who now lives in Ottawa, did extremely well at a national body building competition in Mississauga this past weekend, and a previous natural body-building championship held in Barrie.
“It was a great experience and to basically place in the top 15 in Canada says something,” stated Celina Cada-Matasawagon on Tuesday. She competed in the Canadian Physique Alliance Pro-Qualifier Natural Canada competition this past Saturday.
“It was a really big show, there were 520 athletes from all over Canada who took part in the different categories,” she said. “In the grandmasters class there were 19 competitors, and I placed in the top 15; and in the masters division there were 20 athletes taking part and I placed in the top 16.”
“Some of the athletes have competed in the nationals as well as regional shows,” said Ms. Cada-Matasawagon. “And everyone came with their A game. My coach said of the 520 athletes she felt there was only one person who didn’t belong on the stage with the other competitors.”
The day’s competition proved to be long and exhausting as well. “Pre-judging started at about 1-1:30 in the afternoon and this was supposed to be done by 5 pm. But they went to 6 pm and after a break we didn’t get started on the night competition until a lot later. I didn’t get on the stage until 11:30 at night, and there were still a long way to go for athletes in other divisions.”
“Everyone worked hard to get to that level of competition,” said Ms. Cada-Matasawagon. “I know one of my friends has been competing here for the past four-five years and finally got her professional card out from this event.”
Prior to this past weekend’s competition, “I attended the Barrie Natural championships,” Ms. Cada-Matasawagon told the Recorder. “This is one of the largest regional qualifier championships held. I had qualified last year as well as this year.”
Ms. Cada-Matasawagon placed third in the figure grandmasters division, fifth in figure short masters, third in the bikini grandmother’s category and fourth in the bikini masters division.
“There were only three competitors in the figure grandmothers division, but in the other categories there were six to seven competitors in each,” she added.
