By Neto Baptiste
Over 30 competitors are set to cross the stage during the 59th edition of the Antigua and Barbuda Amateur Bodybuilding and Weightlifting Federation’s (ABABWF) National Championships slated for August 8th at the St Anthony’s Secondary School (SASS).
This is according to Assistant Secretary of the federation, Ediniz Norde, who highlighted that of the 33 athletes registered to compete this year, five are juniors.
“So we have four girls and one boy, and the girls will be doing something called acrobatic fitness, where they’d be required to do an acrobatic presentation. So they’ll be doing some flips, cartwheels, things like that, showing their fitness. Then they will have comparison posing, very similar to what we would call figure posing, to be compared by the judges. Then we have one young man, and he’ll be doing bodybuilding and classic physique. He’s nine years old,” she said.
“We do have a few novices and we have more males than females this year. We only have about nine or 10 females, three of which are novices,” she added.
The administrator also highlighted an increase in the number of bodybuilders set to cross the stage this year with nine athletes registered in that category, an increase on the five that would have competed last year.
Norde believes this signals that athletes are still drawn to the more hardcore aspect of the sport but that most only choose to start with the less demanding categories before graduating to the higher levels.
“If you’re new to the sport, men’s physique is an excellent way to start and depending on your genetics and your drive, then you can move on to different areas. We had a young man, Steve, he started out in men’s physique, and then he eventually went over to bodybuilding and he did very well a few years ago in Barbados at CAC. So the bodybuilding spectrum has opened to welcome people at all phases of their bodybuilding journey,” she said.
Meanwhile, second time Men’s Physique competitor, Vaden Browne, is confident of an improved showing this year.
“My first entry was really testing myself so over the years, I’ve been really trying to push it. I’ve been working very strictly on my diet, and this whole prep has forced me to better manage my time. The first time I would have competed, I would have underestimated how much weight I actually had to lose. Beginning, I was thinking maybe about 10 or 15 pounds but so far, I’m down 28 pounds and I still have about, maybe six more to go,” he said.
The competition is scheduled to start at 7:00 p.m. and carries an entrance fee of $80 per adult and $40 per child.
