By Romario Samaroo
The curtains came down on the 2016 season of bodybuilding in Guyana but it is being rated as very memorable for many for years to come. One such individual
who is proud of the achievements made by Guyana as it relates to bodybuilding is President of the Guyana Amateur Body building and Fitness Federation (GABBFF), Kevon Bess.
Bess, who sat down with Guyana Times Sport in an exclusive interview, had expressed the notion that Guyana has had a marvelous run in the sport on overseas shores and with Stage of Champions capping off the season on local shores, it was a dream year.
With roughly six major events for the 2016 season, the year has been by far the most successful run for the locals in recent memory and the GABFF president was not shy to highlight the hard work and dedication the athletes have put in to continue to put Guyana on the map and wave the Golden Arrowhead high.
“Beginning with the local Novice competition and then the seniors’ competition not to mention the sports world classic in Trinidad, the Darcy Beckles classic in Barbados and the Central American and Caribbean Championships (CAC) Guyana would have performed exceptionally well.” Bess said while going on to mention that in his opinion the biggest accomplishment of 2016 would be the CAC team in Dominica Republic where for the first time, we were able to bring home a tally of five medals, composing of one bronze, two silver and two gold, even at Darcy Beckles the first time we captured a silver medal.”
The success was not only based on the usual names such as Devon Davis, Kerwin Clarke, among others but rather the stepping up of some fairly new faces who did not disappoint, particularly, Yannick Grimes who won silver in Sports World Classic and bronze at Darcy Beckles, Emmerson Campbell who got silver at CAC and an eye on the future from the Novice Champion coming out of Berbice, Faroud Mohamed.
Funding
However, it was not all bed of roses but the usual problem of funding remains a challenge. Nevertheless, corporate Guyana has been doing their best and according to Bess he is of the opinion that “in 2016 we have been showing corporate Guyana what bodybuilding is doing for the Golden Arrowhead, so I think in 2017 we will continue with our fund raisers while approaching corporate Guyana for support.”
Bess reiterated the fact that “not only corporate Guyana but the government of the day should see what we are doing for the Golden Arrowhead and throw their support behind the sport in 2017 so that we could continue to fly the flag.”
Looking to the future, Guyana has the opportunity to fit their latest competition, Stage of Champions, into mainstream programming as a capping off of the season event and actually utilize it to have all the athletes from the Caribbean come and perform as champions and overtime maybe in the next five to 10 year become the premier event which will in turn do well for sporting tourism in Guyana.
Judges development
Meanwhile, not only has Guyana expanded its pool of world class athletes but also the number of world rated judges has been at the pinnacle of the sport in 2016 and Bess explained that “there are already plans to streamline six more judges.”
At the last competition, two of the judges and the head of the judges committee which is autonomous, have their own systems but they have agreed among themselves to attend next CAC in Mexico providing funding is available. This has stemmed from Franklin Brisport-Luke taking the first jump and heading to CAC this year to qualify himself, consequently this will expand our arsenal of judges. The 2017 season will open with the Novice competition.
