Dr. Vic Classic -2023
The Dr Vic Classic at Brierley Hill Civic rounded off the first ever BPA show season in style on Sunday, November 12.
By John Plummer
Photography by Thomas Mone – check out our insta and tiktok pages for more.
The Dr Vic Classic at Brierley Hill Civic rounded off the first ever BPA show season in style on Sunday, November 12.
The event, which saw £500 prizes awarded to each of three overall champions, was the forerunner to what promises to be one of the most spectacular events of the 2024 bodybuilding calendar.
Backed by online supplement store Dr Vic, details of next year’s super show have yet to be revealed but believe us when we say there will be major prizes and you won’t want to miss it.
The Dr Vic Classic guaranteed competitors entry to the event and was also a terrific contest in its own right, giving athletes the chance to battle for cash and qualify for next year’s British Championships.
Here’s how the day unfolded.
BODYBUILDING
In the bodybuilding jungle, the big beasts usually prevail. Judges’ eyes are naturally drawn to the superheavyweights rather than the smaller guys in overall posedowns so it tells you a lot about the quality of Saeed Rezaei’s physique that he landed the sword and £500 for being the best in show. Middleweight Saeed was only slightly above the lightweight limit but he overcame Andy Batty and Phil Caine in the his weight class before taking the overall.
His biggest threat was probably over-100kg champ Dariusz Nawara, who is already talking about being bigger and better next year. Dariusz has made his mark this year and it will be interesting to see what he can do with a winter’s training under his belt.
Karolis Karlonas took the heavyweights and Tariq Malakhel won the light-heavyweights with a physique that looks like it could do some damage next year if he gets tighter. Tariq had the consolation of winning classic bodybuilding.
Kev Norris won the lightweights and Omid Ghaderi took the novice class.
Yet again, the masters’ classes were some of the toughest of the day. Firstly, Dariusz Nawara overcame Claudius Parkes in the over-40s. It was a tough class to judge because their physiques were so different but ultimately Dariusz had too much size and conditioning for Claudius, whose classy physique won a lot of admirers. Anthony Larson’s shreds earned him first place in the over-50s. To maintain this level of conditioning at the end of a long season was testament to Anthony’ dedication and hard work.
Classic bodybuilding champion Andy Batty was hard as nails. Andy never competed until he was 53 and is now 59 — a phenomenal effort.
FEMALE CLASSES
Some classy female physiques took to the stage — and quite a few of them were from the same gym. Virginja Mazintiene was the pick of the bunch, winning bodyfitness and the overall title to go home with two trophies, flowers, the overall champion’s sword and £500 cash. Virginja, whose conditioning was outstanding, led the impressive showing trained by Rob Reinaldo at Bodyworx gym in Peterborough.
Monika Mikolajczyk also caught the eye, winning both masters bikini classes with a beautifully trained body well suited to the class. Monika didn’t rush for anything on stage and exuded the confidence of a woman who had done her homework.
Wellness was a close affair between Nikoleta Balogova and Irina Bozenkova. Irina was well defined but Nikoleta had a great wellness shape with an eye-catchingly small waist accentuating her muscular lower body. Irina did, however, win the over-35s wellness division.
Susana Silva, another product of Bodyworx gym, took women’s physique with a muscular and shapely look.
Miroslava Mircheva showed great proportions in winning her bikini height class and must have been a strong contender for the overall.
MEN’S PHYSIQUE
The board short brigade was out in force, and the two open height classes were among the most competitive of the day. The last man standing was Reza Bahrani, who underlined his status as one of the most talked about athletes of today. Reza really is the real deal: he ticks all the boxes and exudes such a healthy look.
The top three in the tall height class was quality. Runner-up Luke Hands had cuts everywhere and third-placed Jehlani was sculpted like an Adonis. But Reza prevailed and went on to overcome short height class winner Shiraz Mirza for the £500 cash prize and overall champion’s sword.
Shiraz’s muscularity and conditioning helped him defeat the beautiful shapes of Gurpinder Singh and Amritpal Singh in the short height class. Earlier in the day Shiraz had finished first of eight in masters men’s physique so he still had quite a day.
RESULTS
OVERALL BODYBUILDING CHAMPION: Saeed Rezaei
OVERALL FEMALE CHAMPION: Virginja Mazintiene
OVERALL MEN’S PHYSIQUE CHAMPION: Reza Bahrani
Novice / Intermediate
1 Omid Ghaderi
Masters Bodybuilding Over-40
1 Dariusz Nawara
2 Claudius Parkes
Masters Bodybuilding Over-50
1 Anthony Larson
2 Steve Beer
3 Dariusz Zuk
4 Dean O’Connor
5 Dean Harris
Classic Bodybuilding
1 Saeed Rezaei
2 Tariq Malakhel
3 Phil Caines
Bodyfitness Open
1 Virginja Mazintiene
Bodybuilding under-70kg
1 Kev Norris
Bodybuilding under-80kg
1 Saeed Rezaei
2 Andy Batty
3 Phil Caine
4 Omid Ghaderi
Bodybuilding under-90kg
1 Tariq Malakhel
Bodybuilding under-100kg
1 Karolis Karlonas
Bodybuilding over-100kg
1 Dariusz Nawara
Masters Men’s Physique
1 Shiraz Mirza
2 Michael Nesbitt
3 Parminder Sall
4 Jason Bond
5 Andrew Taylor
6 John Keating
7 Felix Habarugira
8 Istvan Szilard Csaki
Masters Wellness over-35
1 Irina Bozenkova
Masters Classic Bodybuilding over-40
1 Andy Batty
2 Claudius Parkes
Women’s Physique
1 Susana Silva
Masters Bikini over-35
1 Monika Mikolajczyk
2 Suzanne Connolly
Masters Bodyfitness over-35
1 Virginja Mazintiene
Men’s Physique short
1 Shiraz Mirza
2 Amritpal Singh
3 Gurpinder Singh
4 John Keating
5 Istvan Szilard Csaki
Men’s Physique Tall
1 Reza Bahrani
2 Luke Hands
3 Jahlani
4 Nathaniel Dina
5 Baz Rahman
6 Andrew Taylor
7 Ian Chorley
8 Felix Habarugira
Bikini short
1 Mirolslava Mircheva
Wellness Open
1 Nikoleta Balogova
2 Irina Bozenkova
