Natural Champion sponsoring the SNBF Georgia Championships…

Charles Hawkins, drug free Mr. Universe, to appear at the Natural Champion booth…Dan and Thelma Lurie celebrate their 60th anniversary…Chet Yorton, first bodybuilder to defeat Arnold in a contest, returns to the stage at age 67!

THE BIG NEWS for this month is that Natural Champion Enterprises and Naturally Juic’d is going to help sponsor the first SNBF (Supernatural Bodybuilding and Fitness Organization) event of the year, the 2007 Georgia Bodybuilding , Figure, Fitness, and Model Contests to be held April 7 at Southern Polytech State University in Marietta, Georgia – not far from our home offices.

Charles Hawkins, drug free Mr. Universe, and the subject of our very first Introducing… column feature (May, 2006) will be at our booth along with some of the gang from Natural Champion magazine.

Also on hand will be Patty Foster, who was on the cover of the December, 2006 Issue and was also featured in that month’s Introducing… column.

If you’re anywhere in the area, don’t miss what promises to be a great show…and be sure to drop by the Natural Champion booth and say “hello”.

For more information on the SNBF and its events, log onto www.snbf.com

Congratulations to Dan and Thelma Lurie who recently celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary. Dan Lurie is one of the pioneers of bodybuilding. Dan was founder of the Dan Lurie Barbell Company, the publisher of Muscle Training Illustrated, and the guiding force behind the World Body Building Guild (WBBG). He was also a top competitive bodybuilder (Three Time AAU "Most Muscular Man in America" ) and the start of the Sealtest Big Top TV Show (he was featured as ‘Sealtest Dan, the Muscle Man).

Liz Jones Update: We received a nice note from one of our July, 2006 cover models and Introducing… features, Liz Jones. Liz tells us she is currently working on her master’s degree and is doing a research paper exploring ethical issues in the fitness & bodybuilding and the nutritional supplement industry.

We also had the pleasure of hearing from Dana Maney, who graced the cover of the September, 2006 issue of Natural Champion and was the subject of a feature article in the same issue. Dana sent us an update on her husband, Jess, a competitive natural bodybuilder - and a sergeant in the Army National Guard. Jess was stationed in Iraq for fourteen months, during which time he helped set up a make-shift base gym in a tent in the desert. Despite the adverse conditions, Jess not only maintained his own training as best he could, but set up programs for his fellow soldiers and encouraged and assisted them in their efforts.

We hope to do a dual feature on Jess and Dana Maney in the very near future.

Our thanks to Matt Shepley, head of the OCB (Organization of Competitive Bodybuilders, and another former Cover Model and subject of an Introducing… feature profile for sending us a copy of his Fitness & Physique Magazine, a newsstand magazine devoted to health and fitness, with an emphasis on drug free training and athletics and special features on drug free bodybuilding.

Fitness & Physique Magazine is a first class magazine from cover to cover - well written and informative, no bs articles…excellent photography…high quality paper and design. For info on how you can subscribe to Fitness & Physique, log on to www.theocbwebsite.com.

Also, check out the OCB schedule of contests and events on our Coming Events pages.

A real blast from the past! Chet Yorton, 1966 IFBB Mr. America, 1967 NABBA Mr. Universe (a contest in which he defeated Arnold Schwarzenneger, the first person and one of only three total to ever defeat the Governator in a physique contest), and one of the founding pioneers of the drug free bodybuilding movement, ‘re-surfaced’ to guest pose at the 2006 OCB Yorton Cup Championships…at the age of 67!

Photos of Chet at the event can be found in the Spring, 2007 issue of Fitness & Physique and on the OCB website at www.theocbwebsite.com

That’s it for now…If any of our readers have items they think would be of interest to our readers, we welcome you to send them to avest@naturalchampion.net