A Minersville man is this year’s Mr. Anthracite Natural.
Chadwick Thomas, 28, won the prized title Saturday at the fourth annual bodybuilding competition at the Majestic Theater, Pottsville.
“I’ve been lifting since 2009, and I’ve been training for this show for 10 months,” Thomas said. “I worked really hard to get in this shape and was just hoping to win.”
Sponsored by the National Gym Association, the natural bodybuilding and men’s physique contest was a fixture in the coal region that was brought back after about a 30-year hiatus by Warren Egebo, Hegins. It is a pro-qualifier and open to anyone who lives, works or attends school in the five counties making up the Anthracite coal region: Lackawanna, Luzerne, Northumberland, Carbon and Schuylkill. Prejudging was held at noon and participants had to pass a polygraph test prior to the competition.
Thomas, who is 5 foot 9 inches tall and weighs 180 pounds, was one of 10 competing in this year’s event. He said it was his fourth bodybuilding competition, but the first time he entered the local event.
Before earning the title of Mr. Anthracite Natural, Thomas had to overcome several severe injuries. He was injured in a motorcycle accident in 2005 and had undergone multiple knee surgeries, hurt his back and shoulder and damaged 10 percent of the skin on his body. Once recovered, he started hitting the gym and now goes to Champs Fitness and Sports Center, Minersville.
“That’s how I got into shape. I just wanted to get stronger,” Thomas said.
He said he was in the gym three to four hours, six days a week.
“I’m so proud he came back, he worked so hard,” his mother, Penny Copeland, Bloomsburg, said. “It was a long recovery and his friends helped.”
“He had his doubts, and I told him if he didn’t try it, he would regret it,” Copeland said.
Thomas said the key was research. He said different foods affect people in different ways.
“It comes down to consistency, what you eat and being dedicated,” he said. “I love bodybuilding. It’s just a lifestyle.”
Now considered a professional bodybuilder, Thomas said he is going to take a break before entering his first show at that level next year.
His advice to other bodybuilders looking to become professionals was to learn about the various aspects of the sport.
“Do your homework,” he said. “Look at what others are doing and go to a few shows. It’s a visual sport. It’s about developing your muscles and showing your physique. Do your homework and apply what you learned.”
The 10 competitors represented four of the five counties that make up the Anthracite Coal Region. They were Dan Bound, Pottsville; Donald Deibler, Pine Grove; Greg Emiliani, Scranton; Dave Evans, Pottsville; Emilio Jack, Pottsville; Dante Picarelli, Shamokin; Scott Rizzardi, Minersville; Caleb Shilko, Palmerton; Travis Snyder, Hegins; and Thomas.
A few were returning competitors, but most of them were new to Mr. Anthracite Natural, Warren Egebo, event organizer, said.
“That was a neat part of it this year — there were so many new people,” Egebo said. “It was also highly competitive. I think it was the most competitive show of the four.”
There were awards for several categories, including junior’s, novice, open, master’s, grandmaster’s and men’s physique. Classic physique was also added this year. A full list of winners will be available at www.mrnaturalphilly.com. Video clips of the event will also be added to the Natural PhillyBB Youtube channel.
All the contestants are now eligible to compete in Egebo’s Mr. Natural Philadelphia Show on May 7.