Photograph by Tim Kahana
In summertime in Atlanta, the perfect peach in Georgia might come from your local farmer’s market. But if you’re Cydney Gillon, it’s walking on a stage.
On May 31 at the Atlanta Marriott in Alpharetta, nearly two-hundred swimsuit-clad competitors gathered to flex onstage at the 4th Annual Cydney Gillon Peach Classic, one of the premier amateur bodybuilding competitions in Georgia.
The show was founded in 2022 by Atlanta’s Cydney Gillon, a homegrown heroine in the world of professional bodybuilding. Gillon retired from competition in October 2024 after a storied, eighteen-year career that she concluded by joining the sport’s legends like Lee Haney and Ronnie Coleman in winning her eighth consecutive title at The Olympia, the crème de la crème of pro bodybuilding shows.
One might think that a retired bodybuilding athlete with similar accolades might slow things down upon stepping offstage—maybe enjoy some cake other than a rice cake for a change? Not Gillon. Long before her retirement and throughout her entire bodybuilding career, Gillon had been achieving goals in parallel pursuits. To name a few: between her first show as a young teenager and her last at age 32, Gillon graduated from high school, completed her undergraduate degree from UPenn while competing for four years as a D1 track athlete, earned her masters degree at USC, and participated on the TV series Survivor, making it to the “final four” round on her season, Kaôh Rōng.
Photograph by Tim Kahana
While the Peach Classic is only one of many business opportunities taking up Gillon’s time in retirement, it’s one that’s especially close to her heart as a way of giving back to the sport and its athletes: “It’s basically my version of community service,” she says. “I was in a sorority [in college], which was big on community service, and that’s what the show is to me. It’s like, How can I give back to the athletes who were, who were where I was? I wish I had a show like this when I was coming up [as a competitor].”
Most bodybuilding competitions for amateurs are relegated to low-frills venues with minimal prize money and perks for competitors. Gillon had a high standard to begin with when she started the Peach Classic in 2022 and strove to make the event bigger and better every year.
In addition to upping the prizes and giveaways for winners, this year’s show upgraded its venue to the Atlanta Marriott in Alpharetta and nearly doubled its number of registered competitors compared to the first edition of the show.
“If you ask anybody, they had a great time at the first Peach Classic, but the difference between then and now is night and day,” Gillon noted, reflecting on the first Peach Classic hosted at Georgia Tech. “People are seeing the growth, and it’s me learning as a promoter.”
Photograph by Tim Kahana
Hosting the event at a hotel venue this year not only offered a swankier experience for competitors, but also offered an added benefit of athletes having a one-stop-shop experience for competing: not having to leave the hotel to perform any check-in tasks or get anything else they need to look and feel their best on show day—from tan and makeup to Olympian athlete meet-and-greets—was a distinguishing element of Gillon’s show, a standard inspired in part by her own competitive experiences:
“Since I’ve done so many shows to the highest level, I know what should be done and what should not be done and what I would like to see for my athletes. I’ve turned my Peach Classic into basically an Olympia for my amateur athletes,” she says.
Photograph by Tim Kahana
Participating in the Peach Classic wasn’t an impulsive decision for those who participated. A typical bodybuilding competition, even at the amateur level, requires between twelve to sixteen weeks of preparation in advance of a show, with athletes following strict nutrition, exercise, and posing plans to look their best on show day. Training aligns with the judging criteria of the division: Women’s Bikini, for example, favors a shapely and balanced female form, while Men’s Classic Physique rewards the look of an Arnold Schwarzenegger in his prime. No matter the category, the goal for athletes is the same: to bring their best “show package” to the stage, suit, tan, makeup, and all.
The action ramped up the night before the Peach Classic, around 5 p.m., when athletes checked into the event and attended a mandatory athletes’ meeting. The individuals in attendance ranged widely in age, geographic origin, and career.
When asked about common misconceptions about the world of bodybuilding, Gillon notes, “They’re regular people who happen to bodybuild on the side. I think what’s misunderstood now is that all bodybuilders do is just work out and don’t work . . . my [coaching] clients, they’re doctors, they’re nurses, they run businesses, they work for regular companies.”
Photograph by Ben Mauseth/Bloomhaus Media
Most Peach Classic competitors were from Georgia, but many traveled in from out of state to compete. The demographics ranged from girls in their late teens to men over sixty. Their day jobs ranged widely, from accountants to baristas. Some athletes were aspiring professional bodybuilders, but many athletes competed for other reasons: more than one woman signed up for the show as a birthday gift to herself. For one man, Competitor #140, competing was self-affirmation: life had taken him away from bodybuilding, and the Peach Classic was his opportunity to recommit after a twelve-year layoff from the stage.
Photograph by Ben Mauseth/Bloomhaus Media
By 8:15 a.m. on show day, the hotel parking lot was already full, and the line to get the best seats for the show was thirty people deep. As audience members took their seats in the Marriott ballroom, the first division of women perfected their look: touching up hair, securing swimsuits with pins and tape, and “getting a pump” with resistance bands before walking onstage at 9:30 a.m., sharp.
Groups of action-figure bodies posed and flexed onstage, one group after the other, until 7:30 p.m. Judges called athletes out by the numbered buttons on their swimsuits, switching their order in the lineup, moving the leading athletes toward center of the stage. Athletes kept wide smiles on their faces as the judges took notes, comparing their bodies from all angles, both while stationary and in motion.
Photograph by Ben Mauseth/Bloomhaus Media
Such an atmosphere could become stoic with all the judging, but the Peach Classic crowd was a festive one.
“We see you #31!” shouted an enthused husband, Sasha from Savannah. His wife stepped onstage for her first-ever competition, wearing a gold rhinestone swimsuit and a smile that gleamed just as brightly. Sasha’s smile was as big as hers.
The emcee for the finals, a radio host named Dallas, put it best when urging the crowd to keep on cheering, “You went through the training too! You just didn’t step up onstage!”
The finals brought relief to the athletes in the form of photo ops with loved ones and the chance to eat something other than chicken and rice cakes. Some opted for burgers and pizza, others—the ones doing another show in a week or two—opted for something lighter to “break” their diets.
Photograph by Ben Mauseth/Bloomhaus Media
The Peach Classic only comes once a year, but Gillon’s leadership is an ongoing effort, focused not only on inspiring bodybuilding athletes but on inspiring anyone with their sights set on better health: “My whole thing now is just making people believe in themselves, making people love themselves at all the different stages. As a leader and an ambassador overall, that’s what I’m striving for: to make sure I keep representing with that energy, so that way people feel comfortable just being themselves.”
