PRESIDENT of the Central America and Caribbean Bodybuilding Confederation(CACBC), Tony Pena, on Friday evening, officially launched the 2024 edition of the premier regional bodybuilding championship at Olympic House, Liliendaal.

On October 17-20 Guyana will again be the venue for the event at the National Cultural Centre stage.
Pena told those gathered that ‘the support of the government, through the ministry, the Olympic committee and athletes will be crucial to the success of the event.’

Head of the Guyana Bodybuilding and Fitness Federation, Keavon Bess, said it was an ideal time to host the prestigious event
‘Over the past five years, I believe we would have captured, the most medals, the most victories, the most first place finishing and of course the most pro-cards in the history of Guyana……the team of 2022 that went to CAC in Barbados has since been the most successful CAC team; the team of 2023, in the record books, will go down as the second most successful team, and, in the last 5 years, we have managed to secure 3 pro-cards’
Bess said Guyana has a long and storied history in the sport which all locals should applaud.

‘We know for sure that the hosting of CAC 2024 would rekindle a lot of memories when Guyana hosted CAC 2004, 20 years ago; since then Guyana’s participation, in my opinion has gone to another level and it would be remiss of me to say that only occurred within the past five or ten years; we have seen the tremendous development of our athletes locally, regionally and internationally over the past 20 years since we last hosted CAC in Guyana’, Bess concluded

Director of Sport, Steve Ninvalle, commended the GBBFF for the boldness and willingness to undertake the hosting which, he said, was no easy feat.
‘I know it’s a huge undertaking. It is not easy when you are having a national tournament much less an international tournament like the CAC and you have shown yourself, you are willing to take on the task…….. we know that his Excellency, President Mohammed Irfaan Ali’s vision is for Guyana to be the mecca for sport if not in the Caribbean, Latin America and further afield and this tournament is part of the ingredient that is going into making Guyana that mecca for sport’

Godfrey Munroe President of the Guyana Olympic Association(GOA) said the body was enthused to support the event and commended the local body for its work in realising the goal of hosting the event once again.
Guyana will field its largest local contingent at the games. It is hoping to have 40 athletes to represent the nation.

In the 2023 CAC Bodybuilding Championship in Aruba, Guyana secured an impressive tally of four gold medals, two silver medals, and a bronze.
Some of the countries confirmed to attend are the Dominican Republic, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Barbados, Panama and Costa Rica.