The Tribune

By TENAJH SWEETING

Tribune Sports Reporter

tsweeting@tribunemedia.net

VETERAN bodybuilders shined at the Bahamas Bodybuilding Wellness and Fitness Federation (BBWFF) National Championships this past weekend.

The fitness event got underway at the University of The Bahamas’ (UB) Performing Arts Auditorium on Saturday night.

The event featured more than 50 competitors in the various categories, including men’s bodybuilding, men’s classic bodybuilding, men’s and women’s physique, women’s wellness, women’s figure, open men’s bodybuilding and women’s bikini.

Joel Stubbs, BBWFF president, was impressed with this past weekend’s national championships.

“We are very happy to know we were able to host this 50th edition of the Bahamas Novice and National Championships, we also brought our pros back… the likes of Raynor Ferguson, Jason Johnson, Lorraine LeFleur, Jimmy Norius, they are all making tracks. I am happy and grateful they came to showcase their talents,” Stubbs.

He said the novice championships were exciting because they saw a lot of new faces and vibrant talent and it speaks to the fact that the sport is continuing, individuals are still poised and still believe that they can do bodybuilding.

He is hopeful that the national bodybuilders will be a part of Team Bahamas in Aruba.

Veteran bodybuilder Godfrey Robsinson made his presence felt on stage among his younger competitors.

Robinson came away with multiple trophies in front of a packed, exciting crowd at UB. He won the men’s master bodybuilding category followed by Orick Nesbitt in second and Andrew Sweeting in third.

Robinson claimed another win in the open men’s bodybuilding. Nesbitt once again came second in the event. Reginald Delancy ended in third place and Andrew Gibson finished fourth.

Robinson placed fourth in the men’s physique open event behind Judah Forbes, Aaron Mackey and Briceton Anderson. He talked about how it felt to come back after not competing in the event for seven years due to work. “The competition for me was kind of challenging my last competition was in 2016 at the CAC Championships in the Dominican Republic and my career took me out of Nassau for the last seven years so I just relocated back to Nassau November of last year got back into the gym in February for the Bahamas Games situations happened where we weren’t allowed to compete but we still had the nationals coming up so I had to build muscles, get conditioned, and get in shape for the Championships,”he said.

In his preparation for the BBWFF National Championships he suffered a hernia in his left groin which affected his training and made him more reliant on diet. “My intention was to compete in the masters 55 and over and wherever my weight landed I said I would just do that open class against the younger guys and fate had it that I came out on top tonight,” he said.

The 56-year old who has been competing in these competitions since 1996 said it felt great to compete against younger guys and his experience helped him with stage presence and posing. He will now look forward to training for the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Bodybuilding Championships set for September 20-21.

In the men’s classic physique open division Rashad Edgecombe placed first and Jimmy Norius came second. The latter also earned a win in the men’s bodybuilding open pro category meanwhile, second place went to Jamiel Hamilton. Additionally, in the men’s physique pro division Jason Johnson finished first for the judges, Kaif Young in second, Norius in third, Raynor Ferguson in fourth, and Derek Rahming in fifth.

Anton Moxey took the win in Class B of the Men’s Classic Physique nationals. Andrew Gibson was crowned the winner in Class C and Andrew Sweeting won Class E. Moxey also won the men’s classic physique novice competition for Class B and Ricardo Mitchell took Class D.

Bricedon Anderson claimed first place in the men’s fitness category and Alexander Kemp earned second in the event.

Kareem Brancaccio took the men’s fit model novice and nationals category in first place. Kemp came second in the nationals event. Kevin Johnson came away with a win in Class A for the men’s physique novice section. Anderson claimed Class B, Ricardo Gibson won Class C and Charon McKenzie finished second. In the same event, Brandon Bastian ended with first place in Class F.

Women

Dorcas Cox, one of the oldest competitors in the women’s division, finished first in the women’s figure category. In the women’s physique competition, Sandra Smith took the nationals and Lorraine LeFleur claimed first in the open.

In the women’s wellness nationals Denica Thompson wrapped up first in Class B, Andreka Dames finished second, and Jackie Cleare was awarded third place. Ivanique Kemp was victorious in the same category for Class D.

Cara Saunders, one of the latest Bahamians to become pro card, wowed the judges in the women’s wellness open category. She emerged victorious followed by Kemp, and Thompson.

In the novice section Andreka Dames finished Class B with a win and Kemp left as the Class D winner in this event.

Amy Sands took the women’s fit model category.

For the bikini competition, Sands was the showstopper in Class B. Venice Pyfrom led the way for Class D and Leslie-Simone Cox ended in second. Karine Macden was the winner of Class E.

The BBWFF will now focus on selecting a 12-member team to field at the CAC Bodybuilding Championships in September. An announcement will be made by Tuesday.