By Emmerson Campbell
Only the best of the local bodybuilders will be on show at this year’s staging of the third Hugh Ross Classic billed for July 28 at the National Culture Centre.
This was disclosed by Guyana’s world renowned bodybuilder and 2010 Mr. Universe Masters champion Hugh Ross himself yesterday.
Ross and his Hugh Ross Classic Committee, yesterday briefed media operatives of the plans for the staging of this year’s event at the Wind Jammer Hotel.
The event promises to be of a higher standard than the previous classics as only the crème de la crème of Guyana’s musclemen and women will be on stage.
At the media launching Ross indicated that there will be sub meets around Guyana and only the top bodybuilders from these sub meets will be on stage come July 28.
“We will be hosting this year’s Hugh Ross Classic on July 28 and leading up to this major meet, we will have sub meets in four different regions, Linden, Berbice, Georgetown and on the West Coast of Demerara.”
He added:”The purpose of these sub meets is to have athletes who are actually preparing for the HRC to be viewed and given additional guidelines after these sub meets so that they will be in an even better state of readiness to actually be on stage at the HRC. On that night, patrons will only see Guyana’s best bodybuilders.
The sub meets in Linden will only be open to Lindeners and the same will apply to the other designated areas, said Ross.
The details and dates of these sub meets will be divulged in a subsequent article.
Ross also noted that the musclemen will be placed in the four standard categories namely: bantamweight, lightweight, middleweight and heavyweight and a category for women called the female figure category.
Ross said that the female figure category will based more on being toned with proper symmetry as opposed to being ripped with muscles.
There will also be a male and a female guest poser at the event.
He also disclosed that in addition to trophies, to compensate the top body builders a stipend in the form of gift
certificates for supplements will be given out.
“In addition to the trophies, as some form of compensation we will be giving a basic stipend to the top body builders. Some of these will actually be in the form of gift certificates for supplement packages because commonly an amateur athlete by right, ought not to be paid in adhering to that rule but knowing the state of the economy and the constraints of the athletes we will try to compensate their expenditures for their preparation.”
The top five bodybuilders in each category will receive trophies. In addition, there will also be an overall winner as the winners of the respective categories will have a pose off.
The overall winner will get an additional award Ross disclosed.
He also stated that besides Wind Jammer and Fitness Express, no other sponsors have been confirmed but he is hoping that previous HRC sponsors like Banks DIH and GT&T will soon partner with the event.
President of the Guyana Amateur Bodybuilding Fitness Federation (GABFF) Keavon Bess was also at the launching and fully endorsed the HRC, noting that he would like to see the event become an annual one on the GABFF calendar.
“On behalf of the GABBFF we would like to solidly endorse the efforts of Mr. Hugh Ross to pull off the Hugh Ross Classic. The addition of the Hugh Ross Classic to the bodybuilding calendar has added more impetus to the sport. We look forward to having this event on a yearly basis. We also look forward to teams who wish to foster the development of the sport and we will render our assistance to them fully,” he added.
Bess also mentioned that by incorporating science and biology with Ross’ wealth of experience and knowledge of the sport of bodybuilding, Guyana can produce bodybuilders of a high quality.
“I had an extensive conversation with Mr. Ross and I think with this competition on the scene we can actually brew body builders of a high quality taking into consideration his wide experience when it comes to the sport in addition to that Mr. Ross has highlighted to me the necessity of involving the science and to a lesser extent the biology of the sport so we can develop better body builders in Guyana so on behalf of myself and the GABBFF we welcome Mr. Ross and his team and we welcome him onboard to help develop the sport of bodybuilding in Guyana” said Bess.
The inaugural HRC was held in 2008, while the second one was held in 2010.Lindener Mark ‘Uno’ Perry was 2008’s overall winner, while Royston Booker was 2010’s overall winner. Sprint queen Alisha Fortune was the top female body builder in 2008 and 2010.
