Carr cops Eastern Caribbean muscle crown

GRENADIAN Vonne Frances and Trinidad and Tobago’s Candice Carr walked away with the overall men’s and women’s crowns at the second Eastern Caribbean Bodybuilding and Fitness Championships on Saturday night.

Fans at the Dr Joao Havelange Centre of Excellence, Macoya were given a classy display of muscular strength and power by Frances, who was the overwhelming favourite in the men’s heavyweight category. The second entrant on stage in the Over-80 kilogramme division, Frances’ physique alone got the crowd on their feet and he sealed the title on the basis of his subsequent two-minute performance. Frances left Trinidadian Richard Jakie, St Vincent’s Garwin Phillips and the Antiguan pair of Steve Williams and Frankie Brown battling for the minor spots. Shurlan Thorne of Barbados, who preceded Frances on stage and delighted the crowd with his “‘show-man” style, was the runner-up with Williams, Phillips, Brown and Jakie following. The consistent Carr was unchallenged in the women’s open contest, with Antiguan Beverley Percival and Vincentian Stacy Patterson taking silver and bronze respectively.

National Junior champ Damien George was an easy winner in the men’s middleweight category, for competitors between 70-80 kilos. The stocky George whipped the field, which included silver medallist Orson Martin of Antigua, bronze medallist TT’s Peter Fraser, Alfrado Allen of Antigua, Barbadian Andre Miller and Anguillan Verdine Connor. Darren Gumbs of Anguilla copped the Men’s lightweight (up to 70 kilos), with 56-year-old James Daley of Antigua second and Trinidadian Allan Checkley third. Trinidadians dominated the women’s events, with veteran Diane Malchan easily defeating Jillian De Freitas to win the Women’s Fitness Tall Class category while Karen George was the lone competitor in the Women’s Fitness Short Class. And De Freitas was again beaten into second place by Jacqueline Cabie in the Body Fitness division. Besides the frame of Frances and the energy of Malchan, the crowd witnessed dynamic displays of power and agility from guests — world ranked bodybuilder Darrem Charles, Lawrence “The Beast” Marshall and Karen Walcott.

Charles, who resides in the United States, was smooth on stage and showed that he is a cut above the rest in the Caribbean. The 10th ranked professional in the world was given a standing ovation by his adoring fans and, during his encore performance, was joined by Marshall and the duo went on a friendly “showdown”, which sent the crowd in a frenzy. Walcott, who won the Monica Brant Fitness Classic competition in Fairfax, Virginia, also had the crowd screaming with her flexibility and grace. Meanwhile, a five-member national team will leave today for Miami Beach, Florida to participate in the week-long World Sportaerobic Championhips. The squad, who will return home on August 5, includes Cabie, Malchan, De Freitas, Trishanti Rocke and Rachel Williams.