http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article_sports?id=161332074LIGHT-HEAVYWEIGHT Ken Hensley of the US Virgin Islands and Trinidad and Tobago's Coretta Bruce emerged victorious at the Sportworld Classic Eastern Caribbean Bodybuilding Championships, at the Cascadia Hotel in St. Ann's, on Saturday night.
The highlight of the show, though, was the posing of top American bodybuilders Dexter Jackson and Branch Warren.
Jackson, 38, has won the Arnold Classic four times and has also finished among the top four in the last seven Mr Olympia competitions. Jackson said that when he started, he was a bantamweight weighing just 145 pounds, but with persistence he has built his body to 245 pounds.
"Keep going and one day you will probably make it as well," Jackson told the regional competitors. "I never thought that 1'd make it this far, but I did."
Warren, known for his enormous legs, said that consistency was the key to his success.
The 2008 edition of the Eastern Caribbean Championships was not as competitive as earlier versions, and saw several competitors-including overall women's champion Bruce-winning uncontested in their respective categories. T&T's Karen George was one of those, the lone entrant in the women's fitness open class incorporating an aerobics routine into her performance. And there were no challengers for defending champion "Spiderman" Neil Diaz of T&T in the men's fitness competition.
The most competitive action on the night came in the women's body-fitness tall class where T&T's Tamara Bailey Ribero was the best of the six competitors.
Middleweight Damian George gave a good showing, but the T&T bodybuilder had to settle for the runner-up spot for the second year running, beaten by Barbados' Anderson Bisphan. Also finishing second was T&T's Ronald Brooks, who ran into Hensley in the light-heavyweight division. Hensley won his weight category as well as the overall Mr Eastern Caribbean 2008 title, beating three other division winners-Barbados' Laron Gibson (lightweight) and Bisphan (middleweight) and Damion Daniel (heavyweight) of Grenada.
