By Neto Baptiste
A five-member national bodybuilding, figure and fitness team is set to represent Antigua and Barbuda at next month’s Central American & Caribbean (CAC) Championships in Santo Domingo.
Randy Christopher, Brad Benjamin, Melissa Seaforth, Dave Roacher and Shunnette Roache have all been confirmed by the Antigua and Barbuda Amateur Bodybuilding & Weightlifting Federation set to travel to the Dominican Republic later this month.
Previously, president of the bodybuilding federation, Dave George, said that close to 10 athletes had shown interest in competing at the championships originally slated for Barbados in November.
A number of those athletes have since reconsidered the annual championships.
“After the CAC executive changed from Barbados to Santo Domingo, the obvious concerns were mainly COVID-related with Santo Domingo being a hotspot, so about three others that had expressed interest before decided that they were not going to go,” he said.
According to George, the federation has closed registration for the tournament as they seek to meet a number of deadlines set by the regional body.
“We have deadlines to meet and we’re in November now and the show is the first week in December so we have to meet the deadlines for CAC in terms of the final entry form and other administrative issues that they are expecting from us. So the team will consist of five athletes,” he said.
The bodybuilding head reiterated that those athletes opting to travel to the championships must finance their own way as the federation, though hoping to provide some level of assistance, is not financially able to fund a team.
“As we would have discussed before, the main expenses are being borne by the athletes themselves so they haven’t really been shouting, per sé, in terms of needing financial assistance from the bodybuilding federation. We are not exactly in a financial position to assist to the extent that we would want to but having said that, we will look and see what we can do. Every little cent counts so anything we can do for them we will do but we are not in a position to help them significantly, but any assistance we can offer, I am sure they will welcome it,” he said.
The CAC Bodybuilding and Fitness Championships has already been moved twice. It was originally set for 28-30 August, in Bogotá, Colombia, before being rescheduled to 19-21 November in Bridgetown, Barbados. It is now scheduled to be held from 4-6 December, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.