The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

SEVEN of the 15-member team that will represent the Bahamas at the 41st Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Bodybuilding Championships are proud members of Club One Fitness Centre.

Led by two-time national champion Jimmy Norious, who will be out to improve on his silver medal performance last year in Puerto Rico, the competitors will be a part of the team set to travel to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, for the championships scheduled for September 19-21.

“It’s the first time ever that we’ve had this amount of competitors coming from one gym and our gym,” said Dianne Gibson, assistant manager of the club based in Sandyport Plaza West, Cable Beach.

“Most of the competitors are either trainers with us or members of the club for a very long time, so it’s like a family and we are very proud of them. We have been supporting them from the beginning of their training and we are pleased to see where they have gotten so far and we look forward to what they are going to do when they go to the championships.”

Gibson said the club, managed by Yolandar Barr, is wishing all of the athletes a successful trip.

In addition to Norious, other members of the club travelling on the team are Jleaneale Bahadosingh in the Bikini category, Dawn Charlton in the Women’s Fitness, Kenny Mackey and Ethan Quant in the Men’s Physique and Lynden Fowler and Sidney ‘Butts’ Outten in the men’s bodybuilding category.

All of the competitors, with the exception of Outten, have indicated that they are excited about representing the country and hopefully getting a chance to earn one of the professional cards that will be offered in the six categories for the first time this year.

Jleaneale Bahadosingh

As a personal trainer, nutritionist and wellness consultant, Bahadosingh said it was a perfect match for her to step out on stage and display her physique in the bikini competition.

“You have your days where it’s a challenge and it’s definitely a commitment because sometimes you are socially awkward because you have to take your food with you everywhere and you only eat what’s in your diet,” she sad. “You pretty much live in the gym, but it’s an extreme sport, like any other extreme sport.”

What’s fascinating about Bahadosingh is the fact that since she got started in April, she has already competed in four competitions, including the Bahamas Bodybuilding and Fitness Federation’s National Championships in July that earned her berth on the team.

“The only thing that I can compare it to is junkanoo because I rush and as hard as it is on your body and as exhausted as you are, and at the end when you said ‘I will never do it again,’ you end up doing it again next year,” she said. “It’s an adrenaline rush. You just become addicted to it.”

Bahadosingh will be competing in the Bikini Tall Class in which she hopes to win the gold. “I hope I do well,” she said.

Dawn Charlton

In her fourth year competing, Charlton said she had to go back to scratch to get ready for the championships.

“I’m back, I’m focused and I’m excited,” she said. “The goal is actually to bring home the gold this year. I think this is my best year. This is the best I’ve looked, the best my routine has looked, so I’m pretty positive.”

With the chance to win a pro card, Charlton said she’s even more eager to compete. “I’m willing to work very hard for this,” said Charlton, who ran track and played volleyball and soccer.

“I’ve watched the videos over the years and I’ve always been impressed with the fitness girls, who have a two-minute routine to display their strength and flexibility, so that was a challenge for me and I like challenges.”

Charlton said the team will be challenged just as much because of its compactness to go to the Dominican Republic and do their best.

Ethan Quant

Although he will be competing in the nationals for the second time, this is Quant’s debut as a member of the national team. But he’s had to endure another challenge, dropping 110 pounds to be in a position to compete on stage.

“I feel really good and I feel real privileged to do it,” said Quant, who played Little League and Pony League baseball in high school.

Quant will be competing in the men’s physique category and he’s hoping that he will achieve the same level of success that he did at the nationals when he won the overall title.

“I want to get my pro card,” he said. “Every one of the divisions has a designated (pro) card and so that’s a big deal,” he said. “They just added the physique division last year, but it’s now exciting because they give people in the Caribbean an opportunity to get their pro card. After you go pro, that’s another chapter opening up. So I’m really excited.”

Kenny Mackey

Another first year competitor on the national team in the men’s physique, Mackey said he too is banking on his success in the short class as the champion at the Northern Bodybuilding and Fitness Championships and the Nationals producing dividends for him at the CAC Championships.

“I want to win the gold medal. That’s the plan,” he said. “God’s willing, we will see how that goes.”

Known as a “gym rat,” Mackey said he got so addicted to training that he was encouraged by Norious to “stick and stay” after he presented him with his first application form to compete.

“I tried it, I won and after that, it was pretty easy for me, so I just kept at it,” he said.

Going into the championships, Mackey said he’s feeling good and is confident that he will perform very well. “I’m putting together my best package to date,” he said. “I don’t want to be disappointed in the outcome. That’s why I’m putting the best package possible when I step out on stage. I want to do well. I don’t want to underestimate the competition coming because every country will be sending their best. But I hope to make the final and see where I go from there.”

Lynden Fowler

Considered the veteran of the crew, Fowler has been competing for a number of years. “I played football and I ran track, but I needed something to help motivate me to put on more muscle and I just moved into bodybuilding from there,” he said. “But its been tough. You have to have a passion for it. This year, I think I’m on point. I’ve put all my knowledge together and I look real good and I hope to do real well.”

Out of the 12 years he’s been competing in the sport, Fowler has represented the Bahamas at least 6-7 times and he has placed a few times. This year, he hopes that he can finally get his breakthrough and emerge on stage in one of the top three positions.

“This one should be real competitive. I look alright, but when you get there, sometimes you don’t know what to expect from the other competitors,” he said. “You think you’re ready and then when you get there, it’s a different story. But I’m prepared for everything.”

Jimmy Norious

At age 38, Norious said he never envisioned himself as a bodybuilder, but rather a fitness enthusiast, having competed in his first Marathon Bahamas two years ago after running with the Road Masters Club. But he said he was urged on to compete in bodybuilding by his wife two years ago and the rest was history.

“I did the men’s physique and got first place in that and then I got first place in the bodybuilding and because I didn’t want to give away my crown, I decided to come back this year,” said Norious, who went on to win the silver medal at his first CAC appearance last year.

This year, Norious will be moving up from the men’s lightweight to the welterweight and whether he wins or not, he said he will be content.

“I’m not going to be too presumptious because it’s tough to compete in a country like the Dominican Republic and it’s a tougher weight class,” he said. “Hopefully my diet, which is only about 80 per cent on par. It’s about 60 per cent. Hopefully in the last week, I will brush up on it. My weight right now is about 172. I need to lose about seven pounds. I have some tricks to get it down.”

Norius, however, said with the intense drug testing expected, he has to make sure that he doesn’t put anything into his system that can hurt his chances.

“I have to do it as natural as possible,” he said. “At nationals, they allowed us to use a little fat burner to get off some water, but CAC is very strenuous on amateur athletes, so you have to be very careful when you are competing there.”

As for the team, Norious thanked Club One for assisting the competitors to make up a greater portion of the team. He said he’s looking for those competitors to make an impact on the success of the team this year.