When you think of Las Vegas, certain things come to mind. Million-dollar casinos? Sure. 24-hour entertainment? You bet. Siegfreid and Roy? I suppose. But monsoons? Yeah, that's what I thought too.

However, much like the US Postal Service, neither wind nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night would stop Al Rosen and the Women's Tri-Fitness from putting on yet another exciting fitness event.

For those of you not familiar with the Women's Tri-Fitness, or WTF for short, it is a unique fitness competition that contains events that test many different fitness skills. Although it is called the Tri-Fitness, in reality it is four different events that competitors can choose to compete in: Grace and Physique, Obstacle Course, Fitness Skills, and Fitness Routine. To be eligible for the prestigious Tri-Fitness award, you must compete in all four fields; however individual event awards are presented as well.

Grace and Physique
Lance Burton Theater - Monte Carlo

The Lance Burton Theater, visually stunning in its own right, hosted the Grace and Physique portion of the WTF. This year's emcees were Jennifer Rosen and Mocha Lee, who incidentally was supposed to compete, but was forced onto the sidelines due to an injury. After a quick introduction and a slide show produced by the A-Team Xtreme's "Coach A", the competition began.

First up was Gainesville, Florida's Charisse Rivers and the rest of the 18-24 age group. Charisse definitely set the tone right off the bat, sporting a physique that would eventually land her in the top 20 in this portion of the show. Among the notables in this age bracket were Mandi Quimper, at her young age already a WTF veteran and a part of the "Fittest Family"; fitness newcomer Amanda Cox from Fullerton, CA; and Minde Erickson, who would also place very high in the category.

Next were the 25-29 year olds, and the field was packed with top-notch physiques. The group included standouts such as the sleek bods of Tammy Lynn, Tania Becht, Shanay Norvell and Sheri Horn; the well-conditioned Nicole Weeks, Camille Eberle and Jennifer Mills; and the girl (you wish was) next-door looks of Amy Huber, Lia Montelongo and Gina Oakes. Seven of the top 20 in this event would come from this age group.

The 30-34 group was up next, although it was hard to distinguish them as actually being older than the previous group. The eventual winner of this round would come from this age bracket, Florida's Sylvia Ferrero. The moment she stepped to the front of the stage, that part of the audience that contained her cheering section erupted, and it was hard to disagree with them. Other notables include Sheila Law, who was overheard mentioning that she had been carded the weekend of the competition (and it's no surprise why); Maine's Lynn Virant; and the Canadian beauty Christine Dahlen.

Next up was a group of women that were allegedly 35-39 years of age. I wouldn't have believed it with a few of them, but the fact that they came to the show with grown children forced me to face reality. Sandra Augustin would end up placing 2nd in the Grace & Physique round, and she was joined by other great physiques, such as Danielle Nagel, Stephanie Wilkins, Susan Oda-Law, Kim Curry and Kristine Daniels.

The final group consisted of women above the age of 40. Again, these ladies looked tremendous for their age, although I feel saying that is almost is an insult. In reality, they looked great at ANY age, and set a fantastic example for all the younger women that had preceded them on stage. Notables in the final group were Debi Balmert, matriarch of the "Fitness Family," as well as Karen Zimmer and Anne Groff.

Obstacle Course
Durango High School

After the completion of the Grace and Physique round, all the competitors started preparing for the Obstacle Course later that night. In the previous year's WTF, the course was run during the blazing mid-day hours (it got so hot that the Las Vegas fire department was called to hose down the competitors) - but this time around the event was scheduled for much later in the day, 7pm at night. Although it's still 90 degrees at that time, at least the relentless desert sun wouldn't be as much of a factor.

Well, that was the plan.

Upon arrival to Durango High School, about 10 minutes west of the Strip, everyone noticed the ominous black clouds lurking in the distance. It would only be a matter of time until the lightning flashes started appearing, and once the clouds passed overhead, all hell broke loose.

The course is tough by itself, but when you add gale force winds, driving rain, and the chance of being struck by lightning.. well, that's a little too much. So Al Rosen and his band of merry men packed up shop and decided to delay the course one day, and the only time that would work would be in the afternoon. Yikes.

So the next day arrived, and despite the crippling heat, the course seemed to be run without a hitch. Outback Steakhouse was even kind enough to donate dozens of ice cold bottled waters, which was appreciated by competitors and spectators alike.

The course itself contains elements such as monkey bars, hurdles, a fixed wall, and a huge cargo net. There were three sets of the elements side-by-side, allowing three competitors to go head-to-head (unlike last year, where there were only two). Competitors were allowed to run the course twice, a the best of the two times would be counted towards the event.

In the end, Tonia D'Anna, who absolutely owns the obstacle course, came away with the fastest time. Close on her heels were Lori Abnathy, Shanay Norvell, Vida Garcia, and Charisse Rivers.

Fitness Skills
Monte Carlo

As previously mentioned, Mother Nature forced the obstacle course to be pushed back a day, so the fitness skill portion of the competition was moved up into the time slot that opened up. A series of trials that test the strength, endurance and agility of competitors, the fitness skills consist of a box jump (time it takes to complete 50 jumps), a shuttle run (best time to complete), and bench press (as many as you can do with 60% of your bodyweight).

The fitness skills portion is a great addition to the typical fitness competition, because it challenges the women to become well-rounded in various aspects of physical fitness. You not only have to be strong, but you have to be able to apply that strength. You not only have to be agile, but you have to have the stamina to keep in constant motion. This gives women who weren't blessed with the ability to do back-handsprings or sprint like Marion Jones a chance to score high marks.

After it was all said and done, Susan Oda-Law rose to the top and garnered first place. She was followed by Nicole Weeks, Miriam Power, Sylvia Ferrero, and Sandra Augustin.

Fitness Routine
Monte Carlo

Even though only a small portion of the competitors take part in the fitness routine segment of the WTF (you need to compete in it to be eligible for the overall Tri-Fitness award), there were still action-packed routines galore.

Coming out on top was Gina Oakes, whose routine had a Pink Panther/spy/detective theme. Sneaking onto the stage wearing a silver trench coat with pink "panther" tail poking out of the back, Gina's routine quickly erupted with energy and included jumps and tumbling that resulted in"ooh"s and "ahh"s from the crowd. A few times I was actually concerned that she might hit the ceiling.. it might be said that white men can't jump, but that definitely doesn't hold true for white girls. Like they say on the b-ball court, Gina's got madd hopz (yo).

Rounding out the top five were Jennifer Rosen, Sandra Augustin, Shelia Law, and Charisse Rivers.

Wrap-up

All in all, another fun-filled few days in Las Vegas thanks to Al Rosen and the all the competitors involved with the WTF. Despite a few set backs due to Mother Nature, the event continues to be one of the most entertaining of its kind and a true test of women's fitness.

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