Luraina Oddy has worked hard over the years to stay physically active and to consistently challenge herself.
The former North American and Intercontinental Kickboxing Champion was ranked #1 in the world for eight years.
Since having children Oddy has changed what she likes to do to stay physically active.
“After having four kids I don’t have that fighter’s fire anymore. I am more of a nurturer now rather than a scrapper. I needed to find something that kept me in the game and competitive. This gives me goals to focus on in fitness but it is not so dangerous,” she said.
This decision led her to take part in her first British Columbia Amateur Body Building Competition where she placed third in a figure event.
She explained that in this part of the event judges look at both muscle tone and definition to decide on the winners.
Originally Oddy was going to take part in the fitness side of the event but after hurting her knee in training she switched over to the figure event.
“Fitness is my whole life. I played for the B.C. team in field hockey. Then I went into kickboxing where I became a world champion,” she said.
Thanks to coming in third, Oddy has now qualified for the provincials event where she will have the chance to move on to a national event in 2013. Quite impressive considering this was her first event.
“I am a total novice. A total amateur. It has been a wild experience and it was fun,” she said.
Oddy said the hardest part of preparing for the competition is having to stay on a very strict diet.
“You are surrounded by temptation everywhere. You have to eat proteins and vegetables with the occasional piece of fruit which sounds easy enough but it is not,” she said.
Oddy currently lives in Brisco but has taught different classes in Golden and is looking to come back to the community to teach, possibly in the near future.
She also wanted to explain that one of the reasons for taking part in the event was watching her sister, Jolaine Bloom, who is also a competitor and her trainer.
“It has been a great help for her. My sister is my inspiration. She is in the national league now and has placed second. She is into fitness and has killer routines. She is extremely entertaining to watch.”
