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REPORT BY DAN BURKE
The Debbie Kruck Classic, now celebrating it's 10th year, was held at the Peabody Auditorium in Daytona Beach on July 24, 2004. The Peabody Auditorium is a massive 3 story professional stage theater located in the heart of the city, one block off the World's Most Famous Beach and across the street from the Ocean Center, the cities mega plex.. This theater is a great venue for a contest with great seating, a gorgeous stage, and spacious automobile lots on all sides of it for easy parking.

Debbie Kruck is the driving force behind this show and lavishes a great deal of attention on this event every year. It's obvious that she really loves the competitors and does everything she can to help them and make the show a positive experience. This year (besides everything else) she provided a complete in house restaurant with baked potato's, oatmeal and grilled chicken served during the prejudging. At night the contestants and audience were treated to pizza and subs. I have never been to a show where they served so much food. It was a tremendous investment of resources to feed everyone and I was impressed and thankful. The food was great!

The competitors at the 2004 Debbie Kruck Classic were fantastic. This was the first year for bodybuilding to be added to the contest's events and it was a big success. The men came ready to rumble. The middle age over 40 guys ruled the day as many of the athlete's in both the OPEN and in the MASTER'S classes were over 40, and looked amazing. Only in bodybuilding can you get better with age like this. The single over 50 men's contestant, Jim Crowe, was in great shape and had an incredible muscular and massive body. The middle weight and light heavy classes were very close and made for a real horse race. The single women bodybuilder in the show, Delena Abare, was terrific, deeply tan and dry and very cut. She was a real pro and deserved her trophy. And she was over 40!

Many of the contestants in the bodybuilding classes were preparing for other shows later in the yearly NPC schedule and were competing at the Debbie Kruck Classic as a "warm up" contest. This was actually a good thing as the competitors seemed more relaxed than usual at a meet, and really enjoyed themselves in the competition. A very friendly atmosphere pervaded the entire back stage and warm up area. It was good to see the athlete's enjoying the camaraderie that can only be found in sports. Almost all of the competitors watched intently from the stage wings while the other members of their class posed on the center stage. It was exciting.

The Figure contestants were excellent, all the way from gorgeous 5th place Figure Class "a" finisher, Angela Herbert, to overall Figure Winner, and super babe, Leslie Stefano (wow! what a perfect body). All of these athlete's were in great shape, looked beautiful, and competed with class and enthusiasm.

The Debbie Kruck Classic attracts some of the finest female competitors in the state and this year was no different. All of the women were tanned and toned without an ounce of fat on them. As stated before, each class was hotly contested; all of the girls looked good. So many talented and gorgeous women in one place made my head spin. I think the judges really had their work cut out for them choosing the "best" out of these classes.

The Fitness girls were beautiful and displayed some dazzling routines. Standout athlete Rebecca Thieneman (this women has it all!) won the Fitness contest and wowed the audience with her perfect physique and great routine. All of the girls were in incredible shape and looked fantastic.

A big highlight of the night was Mandy Blanks guest posing routine. What a performance by a top Fitness athlete! This women floated around the stage like she was on the moon. She defied gravity more than once, and dances, leaps and spins with a fluid grace and strength that takes your breath away. It's truthful to say that she is in a class by herself. A big surprise was had by all, including Mandy, when her boyfriend came onstage and proposed. And yes, she accepted.

A tremendous time was had by all in attendance. Debbie has made her contest into one of the premiere events in Florida. Next year promises to be be even better so make plans now not to miss the 2005 Debbie Kruck Classic.