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Mr. and Ms. Jones Beach contest
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mark.lamonica@newsday.com
August 19, 2008, 3:01 PM EDT
From its inception, Jones Beach was intended as a venue for sports and physical activity. There were mass calisthenics classes on the sand. There were swimming competitions, including the 1932 Women's Olympic Trials. Even Yankee slugger Babe Ruth once appeared here for a nighttime exhibition, blasting fluorescent-painted baseballs out into the ocean.
The Babe was big - but no bigger than the very large individuals who will assemble in front of the West Bathhouse on Sunday for the first Mr. & Ms. Jones Beach Contest; an amateur bodybuilding show, and the first of its kind at the 79-year-old state park.
The show is the brainchild of Dan Lurie, an 85-year-old physical culture impresario from North Woodmere. While fitness is important to Lurie ("health is your greatest wealth" is his slogan), he claims that, outside of raising money for United Cerebral Palsy, there's nothing serious about Sunday's show. "It's a day for sun, fun and kicking sand in each other's faces, like in the old Charles Atlas ads," he quips.
Former Mr. Universe Steve Michalik, who lives in Roslyn, will be head judge and emcee of the event. "The beach is where bodybuilding contests started," Michalik said. "They weren't inside, or in auditoriums, they were on Muscle Beach in California. Dan said, 'Let's try that tradition here in New York, on Jones Beach,' and I was all for it."
As is typical with bodybuilding competitions, the contestants will be judged (for muscularity and definition) in the morning, before posing for the crowds later in the day. "That's the fun part," says Michalik. "We'll also invite the audience to tell us, by applause, who they like best."
Registration for the bodybuilding contest starts at 9 a.m. at the West Bathhouse (between Fields 2 and 4) with prejudging beginning at 10. It costs $20 to enter, so just think of that as a few protein shakes. Surely, that's worth the opportunity to flex your guns in public and be adored by the masses. The beach body bikini registration begins at noon.
The show starts at 1 p.m. and the entire flexed-flesh posedown awards presentation should wrap up by 3 p.m., leaving the nonwinners and the self-esteem challenged enough time to get in a few sets of skull-crushes and lat pulldowns at their gyms before they close on Sunday evening.
So you think you have a good body?
In addition to the physique competition, Sunday's show features an open casting call for a new reality show - working title: "So You Think You've Got a Good Body?" - so that anyone who thinks he or she has a six-pack or a nice pair of biceps can get up and show off. Applicants should wear a bathing suit and bring a full-length photo. Open casting call at the West Bathhouse at 11 a.m.
First Annual Mr. & Ms. Jones Beach Contest
West Bathhouse, Jones Beach State Park
jonesbeachusa.com
Sunday, August 24, 1 p.m.
Cost: Show is free; $8 parking Copyright 2008 Newsday Inc.
