Come October, Guyana will play hosts for the 51st edition of the Central American and Caribbean Fitness and Bodybuilding Championships for the first time in 20 years.
The event was officially launched on Friday night at the Guyana Olympic Association (GOA) Liliendaal, Greater Georgetown headquarters in the presence of CAC Bodybuilding Confederation President Tony Pena.
Speaking about Guyana’s hosting of the prestigious event, Guyana Bodybuilding and Fitness Federation (GBBFF) President Keavon Bess touted this year’s hosting as a chance to rekindle the bodybuilding legacy locally.
GBBFF President Keavon Bess
“We have a lot of persons that would’ve contributed that would’ve passed away and left the legacy of bodybuilding still on our shores and we know for sure that the hosting of CAC 2024 would rekindle a lot of memories when Guyana hosted CAC 2004, 20 years ago,” Bess shared.
“Since then, Guyana’s participation at CAC has, in my opinion, gone to another level and it would be remiss of me to say that has only occurred in the past five-ten years. We’ve seen the tremendous development of our athletes locally, regionally and internationally over the past 20 years since we last hosted CAC in Guyana.”
GOA President Godfrey Munroe later pledged the Association’s support for the upcoming event.
Munroe noted, “Our support for this event was an easy one, in consideration. We’re still to finalise the details, Keavon, but rest assured, know that you have an ally in the Guyana Olympic Association. But it’s a premise on several things in terms of setting that legacy that will emulate after these times, in terms of inspiring the next generation of athletes. Show Guyana as a destination that can host top-class and quality events.”
Also indicating support was Director of Sport (Dos), Steve Ninvalle, who related that the hosting will tie into President Dr Irfaan Ali’s vision for sport.
“We know that His Excellency, President Mohamed Irfaan Ali, his vision is for Guyana to be the mecca of Sport, if not in the Caribbean, in Latin America and further afield and this tournament is part of ingredients that is going into making Guyana that mecca of sport,” the Director of Sport shared.
“Just …[Saturday] we will have the first edition of the Aliann Pompey Invitational tournament, since 2019, that also is another building block in making sure that Guyana is the mecca.”
Ninvalle went on to assure, “At the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport, we would’ve jumped at the chance to support this initiative, this event like we have jumped to support many other sport disciplines.”
The likes of recent pro-card winner Nicholas Albert, Joshua Alexander, Roger Callendar, Emmerson Campbell, Romel Siland, Aliyah Wong, Melita Anderson, Anna Rampersaud, Trisson Harte, Tracey Anderson, Julio Sinclair, and Anthony McLean are only a fraction of the Guyanese athletes who will compete in the event later this year.
The CAC Bodybuilding Championships are slated to run from October 17 to October 20 this year.
