British Isles Pole Dance Championship 2011

After a 2 hour drive around the M25 being stuck in traffic from an accident, I had high hopes for the British isles Pole Dance Championship to lift my mood and be worth the drive.

On entering the hall it was great to see our logo on the big screen as a sponsor and the set up looked impressive with 2 tall poles on the raised stage.  There were also stalls selling pole 2 pole magazine and Goddess Star Monroe was there promoting her new book Pole Essentials.

The third edition of the awards kicked off with the lovely Hannah as the compere for the night with judges Olga Korink, Loic Lebret, Caterina Gennaro, Valeria Parsi and Tracy Huckfield.

First up were the amateurs, who proved they were every bit as good as the professionals with some amazing performances and costumes. Highlights included Eloise Miller and Lizzy Hensley both wearing some amazing red shoes, Lindsay Coventry with her rendition of ET phone home, Suzanne Potter with lovely combinations and Yvette Austin being the oldest competitor showing the youngsters how its done with some amazing strength moves.

Sadly Kirsty Walton fell during her routine, but showed the courage of a lion and managed to keep going, even though she was hurt. She ended up with the biggest applause of the evening as everyone was concerned for her and thought she was amazing for continuing and finishing her routine.

It also turned out that most of the amateur competitors were students studying science subjects, so us pole dancers are a cleaver bunch really.

Before the professional category we were treated to a performance by the one and only Sally Ann Giles who holds the most pole titles and came 5th in the champion of champions catergory at the European Pole Dance Championships in Holland.

The professionals were also of a high standard, with lots of different styles outfits.  I wouldn’t have liked to be in the judges position. There was sword dancing for Kristina Walker, Scottish dancing from Heidi Hildersley and everything inbetween.

Before the winners were announced we were treated to another amazing performance, this time by Caterina Gennaro the US National Pole Dance Champion 2010.

Amateur Results:
1st – Yvette Austin
2nd – Linsey Hensley
3rd – Joanne

Professional results:
1st – Heidi Hildersley
2nd – Kristina Walker
3rd – Samantha Cowie

Yvette won a private lesson with Sally Ann Giles, Heidi won a trip for 6 people to a villa in Turkey and we also kitted both winners out in Mika clothing.

A great night with some great talent and well deserved winners!

www.britishislespoledancechampion.co.uk