Top amateur contender Candice Houston had been knocking on the door of the IFBB for a long time. Over the weekend, in one of the toughest NPC USAs ever and in front of a hometown crowd, she finally kicked it in.
The 37-year-old figure competitor — curvy matriarch of Tenacious Fitness, her own personal training company in Las Vegas — earned her pro card last Saturday night with a dramatic win in the B-class. For the 5-foot-2, 112-pound brunette, the romp at UNLV campus redeems more than a season’s worth of near-misses.
Overall winner of the 2008 Arnold Amateur, Candice had laced together a string of wildly impressive top-three finishes — third this year at Junior Nats and last year’s Team Universe; second at last year’s Nationals and USAs — that was getting long enough to stretch across Yucca Flats.
Newly crowned IFBB figure pro Candice Houston.
But Candice kept her head up. She trained hard and remained close, stalking a first-place trophy like a rattlesnake hunting prey in the Mojave. Meanwhile, she became a model of rock-hard consistency and unselfish class — a distinguished medal she carries into the pros.
