Benjamin Loehrer won the light heavyweight class and overall at the NPC Teen Nationals this past weekend. It was a great victory; he was massive, ripped, and dominated the competition. And I'm sure he has a bright future in bodybuilding. There's only one problem-- he's not a teen. On the day of the show, July 18th, 2009, he was 20 years old.
Show promoter Gary Udit clearly lists the shows rules on his website:
http://www.garyudit.com/npc_eligibility.html
Teens:
Teen Bodybuilding, Teen Figure, Teen Bikini and Teen Fitness competitors must be 19 years of age and under as of the date of the contest and must submit proof of age with entry.
On contest day Benjamin Loehrer was 20 years old. He was born on July 8th, 1989. That means he turned 20 ten days prior to the show. This makes him ineligible to compete as a teenager as per the rules to which he agreed when he sent in his signed application for entry. Ben was 20; therefore, according to the rules he should be disqualified. And, he was! The following is a memo from NPC boss Jim Manion:
Sunday, July 19, 2009
To: All Bodybuilding Press
From: Jim Manion, NPC National Office
Subject: Benjamin Loehrer
Due to age ineligibility Benjamin Loehrer has been declared ineligible as the 2009 NPC Teenage National Light-Heavyweight & Overall winner. Overall runner-up Uriah McGee will be awarded the Overall title & also the trip to Los Angeles for the Flex Magazine featured article & photo shoot. Also, all competitors in the Light-Heavyweight class will now move up a placing.
Jim Manion
NPC President
Ouch! What was Benjamin thinking? The upside is that he's still an excellent bodybuilder with a bright future and he still has his 2nd place trophy in the NPC Collegiate division. Yeah, he fucked up, but he'll get over it. All kids do.
Congrats to the rightful teen champ, Uriah McGee! I'm sure Uriah would have liked to have won the title up onstage the night of the show but a victory is a victory! Stay tuned to RXMUSCLE.com for up-to-the-minute updates!
Check out Benjamin's post-contest VICTORY VIDEO INTERVIEW
