Marion to host bodybuilding, physique event on Aug. 31 Marion Cultural and Civic Center is the competition site
MARION - PCA USA, the American division of the international sports league PCA Bodybuilding and Physique Association, will return to the Marion Cultural and Civic Center. The Gold's Gym Illinois Championships is PCA USA's second Illinois event. Doors will open at 11 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 31.
Top athletes from the show will be invited to the national USA Finals competing for a $15,000 prize purse and Team USA Status, and may become the first PCA USA Pros.
PCA provides athletes with an improved and exceptional competitive experience. As part of PCA USA's athlete centered approach, competitors are supported throughout their training, have additional divisions to choose from when competing, and once on stage will be assessed using clearly defined criteria for body condition, posing, and attire by a trained and fair judging panel.
The Gold's Gym Illinois Championships event is organized by PCA USA promoters Gary Segretario and Mike Montgomery of Skyline Creek PCA USA, LLC. PCA USA is nationally overseen by PCA USA executive Ian Harrison. Ian Harrison was a former professional bodybuilder, wrestler and has held several titles including Mr. Universe and Mr. Great Britain.
"First, we'd like to thank our Competition Sponsor Gold's Gym and our Class Sponsors SIH, Nova Care, Holiday Inn Express and Pepsi MidAmerica and patrons. They really helped make this experience great for the athletes earlier this year," said promoter Gary Segretario. "At this competition, we will send another set of strong, competitive athletes to the PCA USA Championships in October.
"We look forward to seeing which athletes make Team PCA USA. PCA is a rapidly growing exciting international sports league and we respect the dedicated athletes going through this process."
Segretario said the competition is by no means easy.
"We are eager to see how our Midwest representatives do in the PCA USA Championships this year. Ben (Heuring), Alex (Witcher), Bret (Thompson), Jeff (Culp), and Nikole (Justice) are all Midwest athletes," he said, adding that along with the winners in August, the Midwest winners should have a good, strong presence in the PCA USA Championships at Lakeland Florida in October.
"August is a busy month for the PCA USA. We have competitions in Georgia, New Mexico, Mid Florida, and ours in Illinois," said Montgomery. "If you are an interested athlete, you can follow us on our pca_midwest Instagram page. This page is for, but not limited to, Midwestern athletes who compete or anyone who is interested in learning the process, but we welcome anyone interested to follow us. There are a few coaches following us as well so somewhere in the #pcaarmy we can usually get a good answer to any questions that athletes have."
PCA internationally has now grown to 53 countries around the world. Team PCA USA competes internationally against PCA Teams like South Korea, Romania, Ukraine, and Great Britain just to name a few. That will happen next March in England against the best of the world at the PCA World Championships. The PCA World Championships is an elite, invite-only event, where leading PCA athletes compete with one another for the championship titles in their respective class, as well as a chance to win a portion of a significant prize fund.
<h3 class="breakHead"></h3>
<h3 class="breakHead">August 31 Competition Classes</h3>
Men's events include bodybuilding, classic bodybuilding, masters, juniors, and disabled bodybuilding, muscle model, and physique.
Women's events include toned and trained bikini, toned, trained and athletic figure, masters and juniors classes, and disabled bodybuilding.
Interested athletes can check the schedule and register at https://www.officialpcausa.com/.