Mr. Anthracite is now on YouTube.
A 49-minute documentary detailing the return of the Mr. Anthracite Natural Bodybuilding Championships to downtown Pottsville was posted on the website about a week ago.
"My whole idea was to try to make this a title people wanted to have, and it has already become that," Warren Egebo, event organizer and a promoter with the National Gym Association, said Wednesday. "It's a tribute, in a way, to the coal miners of the region."
Egebo, a Hegins resident, brought back the natural bodybuilding and men's physique contest in 2013 after a 30-year hiatus. Sponsored by the NGA, the Mr. Anthracite competition is a pro-qualifier and is open to those living or attending school in the five counties making up the Anthracite Coal Region: Lackawanna, Luzerne, Northumberland, Carbon and Schuylkill.
Jake Cotner, Saint Clair, won the competition in 2013 and Mike Mullen, Carbondale, is the reigning Mr. Anthracite, winning the contest in April.
Augstin Blazquez, a veteran filmmaker residing in Washington, D.C., shot the documentary during the competition in April.
The film, called "Anthracite," features interviews with all 12 contestants this year, including the winner, Mullen, last year's winner, Cotner, and Egebo.
"I had told him a lot about the show and Augstin was very intrigued by the featuring of anthracite coal," Egebo said. "He said he was going to film, but I didn't think it was going to be a whole documentary."
Blazquez follows the competitors from orientation at The Ramada, Pottsville, up until the crowning of the new Mr. Anthracite at the Majestic Theater.
Egebo crossed paths with Blazquez when he was filming another documentary called "Ivan's Journey" in 2011. That documentary follows the filmmaker's cousin, Ivan Blazquez, as he trains to compete in Egebo's Mr. Natural Philadelphia show.
"From beginning to end, you see what goes on with a show," Egebo said.
The documentary is available on Blazquez's YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/jaums.
Mr. Anthracite will return April 18, 2015, to the Majestic Theater. For more information about entering, call Egebo at 215-200-1680, email klon@epix.net or visit www.mrnaturalphilly.com. Participants must to pass a polygraph test regarding steroid usage prior to the competition.