By Emmerson Campbell
A four-member army of Guyana’s premier bodybuilders, spearheaded by reigning Hugh Ross Classic (HRC) winner Kerwin Clarke, winged out to Puerto Rico on Tuesday to battle in this year’s 40th annual Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Bodybuilding and Fitness Championships.
Clarke, who copped the welterweight and overall titles at this year’s HRC, will lead compatriots, lightweight Marlon Bennet (former CAC silver medalist),Devon Davis (current bantamweight champion) and Alicia Fortune (reigning Ms. Guyana and three-time HRC winner) into competition against some of the region’s and Central America’s best bodybuilders at the championships.
The four athletes will be subjected to a weigh in this afternoon while prejudging will be done tomorrow followed by the finals on Saturday.
Clarke, last year’s overall Novices Champion, noted in a previous interview with this publication that the local athletes at the London Olympic Games returned to Guyana without medals but this would not be the case with the team which will be competing in Puerto Rico.
“We will definitely be performing to the best of our abilities to represent Guyana and make our country proud by bringing back gold medals,” Clarke told Stabroek Sport.
The 24-year old muscleman, who has steadily improved his award winning chiseled physique, has high hopes of his teammates whom he says can come out on top if they all stay focused.
Fortune, who is the local sprint queen, is a multi-talented athlete who has won numerous gold medals on the track as well as the bodybuilding stage.
The fifth place finisher at the 2009 CAC championships will look to better that performance by copping a gold medal or at least finish on the podium.
Bennet has the experience of performing at the CAC level and will also be looking to better his silver medal performance in 2009.
Davis has also competed on foreign soil and will be aiming to return home with that elusive gold or to at least finish on the podium.
The athletes were selected by a panel of judges last month which included Current Guyana Amateur Bodybuilding and Fitness Federation (GABBFF) Vice President Hugh Ross, former GABBFF president and current Chairman of Flex Night Inc Donald Sinclair, and former GABBFF president Frank Tucker who is a judge at the CAC Championships.
The bodybuilders are scheduled to return to Guyana on Sunday.
