Fans had all reason to feel shortchanged at this year’s National Bodybuilding Championships.
Bodybuilding has had few drawing cards in recent years and when the two biggest pound the stage far short of their best shape, the championships are somewhat devalued.
Martinus Durrant and Hoskins Worrell are two of the best of the last two decades, but sadly over the weekend at the Plantation Garden Theatre, neither dazzled the capacity audience that wanted to see eye-popping muscle from the two former Barbados champions.
It has to be said that Worrell should probably have won Mr Barbados. He beat new champion Ramon Broomes in lat spreads from the front and back, knocked him over in the side chest shot and was overall thicker with more belly muscle.
If Worrell’s legs were cut, there would not have been a need for the tie-breaker in the grand posedown of champions.
Broomes, at 21, is the future of the sport, along with others such as Dario Bryan, Matthew Watson and Jonathan Nana. He is making steady progress and if there is debate over whether he should have been given the nod over Worrell, there can be no denying his potential.
He and those close to him at Flawless Concepts know there is still work to be done. He has to build his traps and add size to his upper chest to make his physique more complete, but that will come. For now, it is refreshing to have a new kid on the block ruling the sport.
“This was a big win for me. It has always been a goal to win Mr Barbados. My plan is to be better for the Caribbean Championships. It’s a work in process,” said a delighted Broomes.
Durrant is not a new kid by any stretch, but fans surely expected more from a man with two Mr Barbados and three Mr Bridgetown titles. He was setback by a positive drug test, and three years is a long time to be away from the stage, especially when you reach 40, and Durrant looked like a man unsure of himself on Saturday night.
“It was just a step to get back out there. I could have been a lot better but the preparation wasn’t as sound as I would have liked it to be. I know it was a weak Martinus, but you wouldn’t see that again.”
Durrant has vowed redemption at the forthcoming Darcy Beckles Invitational slated for October 27, saying he would be back with a difference.
“I know I owe fans, and I will definitely deliver. Saturday night was about getting the feel of the stage again.
“The suspension dragged on longer than I had anticipated. I?may have been rusty. This was a warm up. The Darcy Beckles Invitational will be a different ball game.”
It was good to see Joseph “Runt”?Bourne strike form again. A shadow of himself at the Mr Bridgetown, He brought rock hard muscle and his best condtion in many years. It was a hugely satisfying performance from a man determined to redeem himself.
Bourne took third in the men’s light middleweight division behind Worrell and Laron Gibson, the latter the sharpest man in the entire competition. Worrell nosed out Gibson on density, width and fullness.
Therold Babb was fifth and last but surely should have been fourth ahead of Christopher Belle. Babb was in better shape than at Mr Bridgetown and looked good in most poses from the front but his Achilles heel was once more his smooth glutes and hamstrings.
Babb has the shape and proportions, but peaking for contests is proving to be a major headache for the man who won Mr Teenager and Mr Bridgetown on the same night in 1991.
Ramona Morgan brought something close to her “A” game and ruled the body fitness competition. Former champion Tamesha Lewis, who placed a distant, was set back in her preparation by illness and could not match Morgan’s stellar condition.
