By Rob Potter
SULLIVAN COUNTY — Tracie Euker keeps on achieving milestones in her natural bodybuilding fitness career.
On Saturday, June 27, Euker, who lives in Middletown and has been the art teacher at Liberty Elementary School for 19 years, entered three categories in the International National Bodybuilding & Fitness (INBF) Hercules competition. She won first place overall in two of those categories – Masters and Open Figure – and placed third in the Ms. Fit division.
She competed against a dozen other ladies from the metropolitan New York area, New York State, Connecticut and New Jersey.
“I feel great,” Euker said in a telephone interview last Wednesday. “By taking first place in two categories, I achieved my goal of earning my pro card. So, I feel really good about that.”
With her pro card, the 42-year-old wife and mother of two will be able to enter World Natural Bodybuilding Federation (WNBF) contests and compete against other professionals.
But Euker said she is not planning to register for any WNBF events this year. Instead, she intends to spend the next six months “improving some areas of my body which need work.”
With the added training for those specific muscles, Euker expects to be ready for WNBF contests in 2010.
“My next goal is to place among the top three in the first WNBF competition I enter,” she said. “Then in the second [WNBF] contest I enter, I want to win it all.”
Euker noted that she felt confident going into the June 27 INBF competition for a couple of reasons.
First, she said that when she and her husband Brad started their car for the drive down to the city on that Saturday morning, the radio was playing the song “I Gotta Feeling” by the Black Eyed Peas. The song features the lyric, “I gotta feeling that tonight is going to be a good night.
“Brad heard that line and said to me, ‘You’re going to have a good night tonight,’” Euker said.
The second reason Euker’s confidence level increased is that she was assigned to wear No. 2 for the competition. She said that was good luck for her since she also wore No. 2 at her first INBF Hercules competition back in 2007 and captured first place in the Novice Figure division.
After competing in six shows over three years and winning several trophies, Euker continues to work hard. Three of her biggest fans are Brad and their two sons, Madden and Cameron.
She also welcomes the opportunity to inspire others who want to increase their overall fitness.
“I want to be a role model for people over the age of 40 and show them it’s not to late to raise their health and fitness level,” Euker said. “I want them to know that there are enough hours in the day to work full-time, be a full-time wife and mother and train for fitness competitions.”