– but sponsors coming up short

By Marlon Munroe
Guyana Amateur Bodybuilding and Fitness Federation (GABBFF) Senior National Championships dubbed ‘Mission of Mega Proportions’ will go ahead as planned on September 12 but president of the association Fiona Harris is disheartened that more sponsors have not come on board.

The championship, which was originally scheduled for August 29  at the National Cultural Centre, was postponed because of the lack of sponsorship to assist in  offsetting some of the expenses.

The budget to host the championship, according to Harris, is just over $1 million.

Further, the slow response (and in other cases no response to sponsorship requests has left the GABBFF to bear the brunt of the financing for the event.

The former bodybuilder revealed that so far only two corporate bodies have responded to the association’s requests.

She was also hopeful that the association would have received the support of corporate Guyana because it would have also helped in the GABBFF sending a team to the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games in Aruba from September 22-26.

However, she is still optimistic that sponsors will come on board since the association is planning an event that is expected to be of a high standard.

On the other hand, Harris said that fundraising events will help “to cushion the shortfalls” as they relate to expenses for the championship. On that same note Harris stated that the GABBFF has embarked on a cost-cutting venture before the big event.

The association has decided to forgo plans to have a guest poser for the event. Earlier, the GABBFF had reported that it had invited a prominent overseas bodybuilder as a guest of honour and guest poser at the championships in August.

The association did not disclose who the guest of honour would have been but had noted that the individual would have been from Texas, USA. Yesterday, Harris indicated that since the association is already down on sponsorship dollars, to play host to a guest poser from overseas at the event will surely leave the GABBFF’s finances in the “red”.

Harris expressed her disappointment that the guest poser would not be able to attend the event since she believes that it would have given the event “a shot in the arm”.

She said this would have been good for the athletes but hopefully next year the association will be able to invite a guest of honour.

Since Harris’ election to office in February this year, there have been three bodybuilding championships, the last being the Novices and Intermediate competitions in Berbice over the Easter weekend at the New Amsterdam Technical Institute (NATI) auditorium in April.

Meanwhile, tickets for the event will cost $2,000 and they can be purchased at the National Cultural Centre and from all the participating gyms.

Categories that will be contested at the event are Bantamweight: up to 65kg and inclusive of 143 lbs, Lightweight: up to 70kg (144lbs-154lbs), Welterweight: up to 75kg (155lbs-165lbs), Light Middleweight: up to 80kg (166lbs-176lbs), Heavyweight: 177lbs and over, Ms. Fitness Open, Ms. Body Fitness, Men’s Fitness and Overall Champion.