… hit with two-year ban
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC) – Barbadian Central American and Caribbean (CAC) bodybuilding overall champion Martinus Durrant has been hit with a two-year ban for using performance-enhancing drugs.

Durrant, 37, was one of four champions who returned positive tests for banned substances at the CAC Championships last October in Grenada where he emerged the light heavyweight champion and Mr CAC honour as the overall champion.

The other three champions failing drugs tests were Bermuda’s Ross Caesar, Jamaican Phillip Clahar and Juan Carlos Vega of Puerto Rico.

Durrant had two banned substances showing up in his sample – the anabolic steroid Mesterolone Metabolite and Acetazolamide, a diuretic – at the International Federation of Bodybuilding and Fitness (IFBB) sanctioned event.

“The IFBB is totally committed to levelling the playing field and having drug-testing as a part of our competitions,” said Barbados bodybuilding chief Dr Andrew Forde, who also served on the medical commission of the 2009 CAC event.

Before his CAC success, Durrant had also copped several local crowns in Barbados, including the Mr Bridgetown and Mr Barbados titles.

“The local federation will be working with this athlete towards rehabilitation and … also continuing our educational drive,” Forde told CMC Sport yesterday.

Caesar, the light middleweight champion, was also unseated because of a failed drug test, as well as Jamaican Clahar, the super heavyweight champion, and Puerto Rican heavyweight king Juan Carlos Vega.

Puerto Rican Joshua Fred Sanchez and Jaime Patricio Bolens, of El Salvador, were also found guilty of using performance-enhancing drugs, bringing the number of failed tests at the CAC Championship to six.