Aloha Classic Bodybuilding Championships (w/ video)

Story and photos by Hyunah Jang

Kaua‘i resident Kevin Jones is 51 years old, and has never stopped training since he won second place at his first competition in his hometown of Boston back in his early 20s. Since then, he has attended more than 40 contests.

When Kevin moved to Kaua‘i, he brought his passion for bodybuilding to the island. He continued training others, and introduced a worldwide bodybuilding competition to the island in 2011, Aloha Classic Bodybuilding Championships sponsored by the International Natural Bodybuilding Association and the Professional Natural Bodybuilding Association.

On Dec. 13, the Kaua‘i Veterans Center and Museum in Lihu‘e hosted the 3^rd Aloha Classic Bodybuilding Championships, sponsored by INBA/PNBA.

“I eat 6 meals a day when I am training, it is really about what you put into your body, the diet and work out shapes your body, not drugs, No one in my family do drugs” Kevin said.

He has trained four women and three men last year, and said the hardest part of the training is changing your diet and eating habits.

Welcoming the show last December, Kathy Saldana, vice president of INBA and PNBA, said, “We are going to show you many of the categories we offer which remind you that there is something for you when you get motivated this evening to change your diet.”

INBA and PNBA’s largest annual competition is the Natural Olympia, which is held on the second week of November. More than 400 athletes from 37 different countries attended the 2014 Natural Olympia competition in San Diego. Both organizations promote natural bodybuilding worldwide, testing for performance enhancing drugs by International Olympic Committee standards using World AntiDoping Agency labs.

“We celebrate all ages in this organization because you don’t stop living and training until you don’t stop living,” Saldana said.

2014 Aloha Classic Bodybuilding Championships

The first place for Figure went to Amber Fraiola, 34, from Hawai‘i, a mother with a 1-year-old daughter.

First place for Grand Master Figure, for ages 50-59 years old, went to Rose Lalin, 51. She is a mother of 5 boys and has a 1-year-old grand daughter.

The first place metal in Men’s Physique went to 56 year old Eassie Ace Soares Haae, who also won Grand Master in the 2013 Aloha classic. Second place went to Brendon Anderson, 31, who is a personal trainer.

Lisa Evans, 49, who won Atlantic state in 1992, got the first place metal in Women’s Open Body Builder Bodybuilding, where the organization is hoping to have more women compete in the future.

For Men’s bodybuilding, Eassie Ace Soares Haae was awarded first, Kevin Jones second, and third went to Greg Killeen.

Lisa Alvarez, 43, won the Aloha Classic 2014 Miss Bikini Diva Masters Division and Crystal Caday-Bargayo, 50, won first place in Masters.

All the funds raised through the events go to the Kaua‘i Veteran Center and Museum to support veterans.

Hyunah Jang

Jones and three war veterans J. Q. Smith worked with Norberto Garcia, commandant, MCL, Aida Padilla-Cruz, Aileen Cataluna-Takenaka and Marlene Burgess to make everything possible last year.