Same stage, different cast, but once again Trinidad and Tobago’s Coretta Bruce and Grenadian Damien Daniel retained the overall titles at the 14th annual Eastern Caribbean Bodybuilding Championships, which took place on Saturday night at a packed Cascadia Hotel, St Ann’s.
Daniel, the biggest man on the night, was pushed all the way in the battle for the overall men’s title, but had enough muscle and definition in all areas to just get the better of his main competitor, T&T’s Dechon Durity, who came back after a two-year absence to get the better of a much improved Jarwan Pantin (T&T) in the light-heavyweight division.
Women’s overall champion Bruce will also have to watch out next time for St Lucian Monica Dudley as there was very little between them.
Bruce showed all the hard work she put in on her back and upper-body, but was a little smooth in the legs, while the bigger Dudley also put in some work and had strong legs and abdominal muscles, but was still just short of her peak.
The competition also saw repeat victories for Trinidad and Tobago’s "Spiderman" Neil Diaz (Men’s fitness); Tamara Ribero-Bailey (Body-fitness, Tall Class); and Michelle Alleyne (Body-fitness, Short Class), but like the overall champions they too were pushed to the limit to claim the honours.
And promoter Lawrence "The Beast" Marshall was presented with the International Federation of Bodybuilding (IFBB) silver medal for his work in building the sport in the Caribbean region.
The highlight of the night, though, was the appearance of American professional bodybuilding champion Kai Greene, recent winner of both the 2009 Arnold Classic and Australian Pro Grand Prix ’09.
A truly big man, carrying 298 pounds of packed muscle, Greene donned a Legacy mas band costume and proved surprisingly nimble as he put down some raunchy moves to a variety of music, including soca.
Greene certainly would not have looked out of place at the Shabba Ranks concert taking place later on the night at the Queen’s Park Savannah.
To the delight of the majority female audience, the man put down some dance moves, showing off tree-trunk legs that had taken him some 22 years of hard training to build.
He was indeed an example to local competitors as to how far they have to go to compete on the world stage.
However, there is certainly hope for Caribbean bodybuilding. Rarely has novice competition produced such impressive athletes as the three who competed on Saturday.
The winner, Trinidad and Tobago’s Francis Martin, was obviously competition-ready and almost as big as a light-heavyweight. Runner-up Jason Gilbert of Barbados also put in some work, while
T&T’s Shevon Simpson was not as muscled, but made a good competitive start.
Tamara Ribero-Bailey maintained a high standard in the women’s body-fitness tall class and was the obvious winner, but some believed that in the short class the harder, more streamlined body of obviously-disappointed Barbadian Jamilla Secumbe had won out over T&T’s Michelle Alleyne. But the judges said otherwise.
"Spiderman" Diaz looked lucky as he completed a hat-trick in the men’s fitness category. While Diaz was in prime physical form, his main challenger, "Red Man" Marvin Rohin, had by far the more innovative floor routine, and while Diaz was doing cartwheels, Rohin was doing sommersaults. The result was debatable.
There was also disappointment for popular Trinidadian Zelus "Socks" Williams, who tried to mask his discontent when adjudged second to the tall, streamlined figure of La Ron Gibson of Barbados in the very, very competitive middleweight class.
There was also some surprise when T&T’s Damien George was only fourth in the same class, although George may have suffered from an overall lack of size and also needed improvement in some areas, such as his lower back, legs and oblique muscles.
There were also a couple of competitors who did not meet basic standards, the worst being Barbados women’s bodybuilder Rasheda Belgrave, who is simply not ready for competition. Bajan Nikkita Robinson did nothing special in the women’s open fitness category, but she was the only one there.
Likewise Trinidadian heavyweight Garfield Edwards needed to look harder at his diet and also to put in some more work in the gym. But, he at least has something to work with.
The night could not have been completed without the entertainers.
Patrick Harris (Barbados) wobbled his impressive abs like a belly dancer when winning the lightweight division. And St Kitts/Nevis’ Colin Lazarus made sure the judges saw none of the other competitors in the pose-down for the heavyweight title by deliberately blocking every pose they made.
And taking a cue from Lazarus, when contesting the pose-down for the overall title, "skinny man" lightweight champ Harris tip-toed across the stage in comical fashion to block every pose that eventual champ Daniel made.
He had the crowd rolling in hearty laughter.
