By:Curtis Morton
The St. Kitts and Nevis bodybuilding team was among over 40 teams that competed in the biggest Central America and Caribbean Bodybuilding and Fitness competition held over the last weekend in Santo Domingo.
The three athletes in the St. Kitts and Nevis team comprised of Collin Lazarus- heavyweight; Kurvin Wallace- Masters category (over 40 years), and Vernon Francis middleweight.
They sparred off among the over 350 athletes who participated this 44 CAC. Collin Lazarus came 2nd in the heavyweight category (very good showing).
Kurvin Wallace did not make it to the finals but had a credible showing. There were 17 persons in this category but he failed to make the final six. It was a very tough category. The persons who came first and second last year in this category had to settle for 4th and 5th positions this year.
Likewise, Vernon Francis did not make the final 6 in the middleweight category. He had to contend with 13 athletes. Two other athletes from the Federation also performed creditably, while competing for other countries. Emanuel Jeffers competing for Anguilla where he resides, placed 5th and 6th respectively in the Masters and the Middleweight categories and Kenroy Hensley of St. Kitts who represented the USVI placed 3rd in the middleweight category.
The team officials were: Joseph Liburd; David Walwyn and Des Parry.
The Nevis contingent of the team, took time out to thank thank the NIA and all others for assisting them to be able to compete in the prestigious event.
The next CAC games will be held in one year’s time, in Mexico.
On their return to Nevis, Kurvin Wallace noted that he gave it his best shot, but stated that the competition was stiff and promised to work even harder for the next tournament.
Colin Lazarus for his part, stated that he felt that he deserved the first place and expressed the feelings of being cheated.
He used the opportunity to urge Government and private agencies to support their athletes in all of their endeavours, as they are representing the country at great sacrifice.
He too vowed to continue his preparations so that he could do even better, next time around.
The overall winner was Gomez Ramos of Honduras who had earlier won the middleweight category.
USA based Guyanese Bruce Whatley was also golden in winning the Masters Over-40 category which attracted 17 competitors, including athletes that had competed in the heavyweight and super heavyweight categories, whilst also raking in the silver medal in the Middleweight division which had 16 competitors and was won by Ramos.
A total of 350 athletes from 24 countries, participated at this year’s competition, namely, Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, Bonaire, Costa Rica, Curaçao, El Salvador, Grenada, Guadalupe, Guyana, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, St. Kitts-Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Martin / St. Maarten, Trinidad & Tobago, Venezuela and the United States Virgin Islands.