The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

THE 43rd Central American and Caribbean Bodybuilding Championships is over and done with, but there have been some lasting impressions left at the Atlantis resort on Paradise Island for both the local and visiting athletes, as well as the fans in attendance.

According to Nardo Dean, one of the local organisers, the CACBFF and BBFF have collaborated with the Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture to put on what has turned out to be quite an interesting show over the two days of competition over the weekend.

“The show in itself was great. We had a good representation from all of the countries,” Dean said. “We had one or two hiccups where we could have had some other things in place and if the sponsors had all come on board earlier than they did, we would have had better execution.

“But besides that, the actual show went very well. The set up at Atlantis was perfect for what we needed it for. I think everything went very well. I was pleased with how everything went. We got to establish some good communications for next year when it goes to the Dominican Republic.”

The Bahamas emerged as this year’s champions, accumulating a total of 194 points with seven gold, silver and four bronze medals with Jimmy Norius carting off two in the men’s welterweight and the masters. The Dominican Republic were dethroned, finishing second with 154 points and Barbados was third with 147 points.

As the federation prepares for the 44th version of the championships in 2016,Dean however said they will have to go back to the drawing board to get Team Bahamas ready for the unexpected.

“It’s a touch and go with the judges,” he said. “In some of the divisions that we felt that we should have done better in, the judges’ decisions were a little skewed when it comes to what the judges are looking for,” Dean said. “We attend seminars and we got updates on what the citeria is for every division so that we are meeting these criteria.

“But it seems as if we still did not meet the requirements from what the judges were looking for. There were some divisions where the winners were blown away. They were surprised that they won. We trained for what we thought the judges wanted, but when they got on stage, it was something different.”

Dean used the women’s physique as a prime example where he expected Lorraine LaFleur to win, based on her size compared to her rivals. But Dean said it turned out that the judges were more impressed with the leaner women, who ended up taking the top two spots ahead of LaFleur.

“So we were trying to find out what were they looking for,” Dean said. “It was very disappointing. Lakeisha Miller’s division was also very disappointing. The girl that won looked like a novice. We have some girls in the gym who are not dieting who looked better. So it took us by surprise.”

Once they review the judges’ scorecards, Dean said the federation will be in a better position to say to their athletes exactly what it is the judges are looking for and hopefully they can make the necessary adjustments to their training to get ready for next year’s show.

As for the operation of the championship, Dean said they have not consolidated all of the bills to determine where they stand financially.

“We’re just thankful that we were able to host the championship,” he said. “If we didn’t host it, there wouldn’t have been one this year. So we are thankful that it was a success and we were able to pull it off with all of the teams. We got a lot of comments from the teams that we will also take into consideration.

“We heard that it was just too expensive for the teams, but they realised that with this type of hotel, they have to pay the price. Despite all of the taxes that they incurred, they told us that they did enjoy the experience. They were blown away by the venue where the competition took place and they were blown away by Atlantis itself and I think they all enjoyed themselves.”

Dean said they are now looking forward to hosting a few more bodybuilding and fitness competitions outside of the CAC Championships and they feel they can attract a number of countries to come back to the Bahamas to compete in the future.