By Akeem Greene
The Guyana Body Building and Fitness Federation (GBBFF) will make its bid at this month’s Central America and Caribbean (CAC) Championship to host 2023 edition.
The CAC Bodybuilding Championship will be held in El Salvador from August 12 to 16, where Guyana will be represented by Emmerson Campbell, Rosanna Fung, Darious Ramsammy, Kerwin Clarke, Nicholas Albert, Rawle Greene, Yannick Grimes and Roger Callendar.
President of the local federation, Keavon Bess, in a recent exclusive interview with the News Room Sport, said he will be accompanying the team to place the bid after they were unable to make a bid to host the 2022 edition.
Bess had stated he is redrafting that 2022 bid document after which it would be presented to the Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport Charles Ramson Jr., then taken to CAC.
“We want to give ourselves at least a two-year gap; if we are successful in 2021, we have the entire 2022 to prepare and attend CAC, and to put the team managing 2023 to observe in 2022. I am optimistic that we can bring CAC to Guyana in 2023. I see no reason why our bid should not be successful,” Bess asserted.
If successful, it will be the second hosting of the event in Guyana, the first being in 2004.
The Attorney-at-Law, who was reappointed as Legal Counsel of the Central America and Caribbean Bodybuilding and Fitness Federation, and elected as a Commissioner of its Anti-Doping Commission in 2018, indicated that Guyana has all the necessary facilities in place and by 2023 he expects the hotel industry would grow to accommodate possibly in excess of 500 athletes.
The economic impact of hosting the event has enthused the local body about the need to host the championship since athletes and their team officials are the ones who stand the costs to attend.
The host federation’s main expenditure would be for the CAC officials, Secretariat, and a big banquet for all athletes and officials at the end of the competition.
Additionally, the President said the next big expense would be trophies since they are of the standard used at the International Federation of Body Building and Fitness competitions, which means they would have to probably source out of China or Taiwan to a specific design.
Noting the Federation will “definitely need government and corporate support”, he said the budget to successfully host the event would be within the range of G$20 million.
