The two junior Dutch guys are literally scaring off the competition for Musclemania Europe in September. As well, several junior bodybuilders have retracted their MM Scotland entries after viewing photos of MM England held a few months ago. One recent e-mail message from a junior
entry stated, "I've just had a look at the Juniors from the England show and its obviously that I'm nowhere near ready!"
Musclemania England Runner-Up Rico Van Huizen (photo right) came in the best shape ever and was ready to finally take down his long time rival and fellow Dutchman, Mark Van Rutten (photo second right), who always seemed to beat Rico by only a few points at Holland regional events. As fate would have it, the 20 year old Rico's carefully calculated pre-contest meals were lost on the plane to London along with all his luggage! Without any local knowledge and trying to work his way through the London tube (subway) system, he had to do the best he could with what he could find. Even with these unexpected challenges, Rico stepped on stage at 5' 10' 175 lbs. with super impressive condition. Judges had the two Dutch Musclemaniacs tied at the Prelims with 16.8 of 20 possible points in Symmetry, Mass, and Definition for both athletes. With a difference of .2 points on the score cards in the Finals Posing Routine, it was technically as mathematically close as possible with Rico scoring 4.4 and Mark at 4.6 - a difference of a single point by one of the 5 judges that giving Mark Van Rutten the MM England win.
Rico is even more determined to step up his game at the MM England in September and has started his own YouTube blog recently in response to a big fan request. But Mark seems to let his condition talk on stage and we don’t hear much from him throughout the year. As it is said, it’s always the quiet ones that you’ve got to worry about! This guy doesn’t mess around and Rico knows that all too well.
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