The overall women’s bodybuilding champion from last year, Faye Rolle, won the women’s masters title while Ray Whylly was victorious in the men’s masters 50 and over division. Raymond Tucker won the men’s masters 40-49 division, and Stephen Robinson and Rolle were the mixed pairs champs just to name a few of the winners. All of the athletes were supported well, as the site for the championships, the National Center for the Performing Arts, was filled to capacity.

The showdown at the end of the evening between bodybuilders who won their respective categories climaxed the event. Williams, a first-year national competitor, won the women’s heavyweight division. She then went on to capture the overall title against the women’s lightweight champ and seasoned bodybuilder, Tammy Stubbs, who was the crowd favorite. Williams, 2009 Novice Champion, appeared even more encouraged after the show about her aspirations in the sport.

"I am usually shy when I get on stage but before performing I said a little prayer and that gave me strength. This is something that I really want to do well in. I persevered and gave it my best," said the mother of three.

Meanwhile, 15-year veteran Darling, won over a top notch field of divisional winners which included Teddy Gray (super heavyweight), Raymond Tucker (welterweight), Paul Wilson (bantamweight), Charles Johnson (heavyweight), and Grand Bahamians Desmond Bain (light heavyweight) and Ray Whylly (light middleweight). Darling dedicated the win to his brother, Norman Darling, who died in Iraq in 2004.

"The competition was really good. Desmond appeared more fresher this year and if Teddy was a little bit more tighter it probably would have been a different result, so in order to seal the win I had to pull one out of my back pocket," said Darling.

Another highlight of the evening was the recognition of Dr. Norman Gay for his contribution to the sport. Minister of State for Culture Charles Maynard presented him with the accolades, including an honorary judge’s award. BBFF President Danny Sumner was greatly impressed with the amount of contestants who performed.

"The judging was good, the talent was high and I would give this event a grade ‘A’," summed up Sumner, an International Federation for Bodybuilding (IFBB) Grade ‘A’ certified judge. Cash prizes, donated by corporate entities such as Better Bodies Gym, Iron Man Gym, Door 2 Door Import and Export Services, Proactive Wellness (Dr. Dwight Marshall) and Security Systems International, were given to the overall winners.

Now that the nationals are completed, the BBFF officers will select a team to represent the country at the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Championships set to be held in Grenada, the first week of October. Other BBFF events on tap include the Antilles Championships, from August 1-2 in the Dominican Republic where the overall male and female champions from the recent novice championships will represent the country. Countries aside from The Bahamas expected to compete at the Antilles Championships include Cuba, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, Haiti, the Turks and Caicos Islands, the Dominican Republic and Mexico.

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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.

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The locals won six of the 10 titles on Saturday night, but still fell short of expectations with Damian George beaten into an unbelievable fourth place in the middleweight division.
George, a veteran in the sport, made a return specifically for the championship which was being used as a qualifier for the Central American and Caribbean Games (CAC) to be held later this year in Grenada in September.
Only Barbadian Laron Gibson and St Lucia’s Orville James appeared to be his most dangerous challengers, but when the announcement came that George fourth, this was met with obvious hostility by the crowd.
Barbadian Gibson won the middleweight crown with Christopher Williams second and James was third.
Apart, the twin-island republic won the overall team title with 110 points, well ahead of runners-up Barbados on 88 points and third placed Grenada 37.
A chiselled-looking Dechon Durity who also returned for the championship, won the light-heavyweight division in a pose-off, during which a confident Durity engaged friendly banter with his opponents on stage.
But his main challenge came in a battle for the top position in the overall category, Grenadian heavyweight Damien Daniels won easily.
Coretta Bruce who earlier won the women’s bodybuilding title, later joined Daniels as the Best Female on the night.
Durity was followed in third place countryman Jamaal Pantin and Williams of St Lucia in the light-heavyweight division.
Daniels had earlier topped the heavyweight division and had been the crowd’s choice.
Daniels turned the heavyweight contest into a mis-match, although Lincoln Bennett’s ridiculous attempts to block Daniels in the pose down, appeared to have very little impact.
Bennett, not surprisingly, was placed just ahead of his team-mate Garfield Edwards who was third, while an equally impressive Colin Lazarus of St Lucia took second position.
In the lightweight category Patrick Harris was a runaway winner and the crowd had been advising him to “take it easy” as the title had already been his.
A dancing Dennis Jagessar of Trinidad and Tobago seemed to have provided more entertainment in his routine than ripples on his body. Still he received a medal and trophy, placing third. Grenada’s Joel Ross filled the runner-up spot.
In the women’s bodybuilding Bruce was followed by runner-up Monica Dudley of St Lucia and Rasheda Belgreave of Barbados in third.
Meanwhile, Neil Diaz was the winner and Marvin Rohim second in the Men’s Fitness Class while Nikita Robinson (Barbados) was the lone entrant in the women’s category.
Trinidad and Tobago’s Tamara Bailey who also returned for the championship claimed the top position in the Women’s Body Fitness (Tall Class), and colleague Michelle Alleyne was adjudged winner in the Short Class.
Francis Martin topped the Men’s Novice Class with Jason Gilbert of Grenada runner-up. Shevon Simpson finished third.

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