New Body Building and Figure Winners Crowned

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Tuesday, 11 September 2012 02:30

By Vaughn Joseph

Antigua St. John’s - The national Body Building and Figure Championships saw the emergence of new winners in all categories.

Tony Jacobs won the inaugural Men’s Fitness segment, Delamine Andrew won the Womens’ Body Fitness and Kennie Jacobs is the new “Muscle Freak” Mr. Antigua Body Building Champion.

Congratulations to the ABABWA for putting on another competition. However, the late start and the numerous time management delays once again hurt the overall quality of the show.

The Master of Ceremonies Dave George did an excellent job in keeping the audience’s interest, especially since contending with the many miscommunications with the backstage was not an easy task.

The ABABWA introduced a new class to the Body Building competition this year, that of the Men’s Body Fitness. This is in keeping with the anticipated addition of this class at the upcoming Central American and Caribbean Championships (CAC) this year. Tony Jacobs emerged as the winner for his excellent fine lines, and lean muscle mass. Tony also had the best stage presence with a winning smile.

In the women’s Body Fitness Mary John captured the short class title. This was a moving accomplishment for Mary, as she had a short message read before her stage performance. The message of coming back from years of drug addiction to a new life of inspiring people to live a clean and healthy life. Congratulations to Mary John, and everyone hopes she continues to work hard for the future.

Delamine Andrew won the tall class and the overall MS Antigua Body Fitness. This young lady has a beautiful physique, and in my opinion easily won the night’s competition without breaking a sweat. She has wide shoulders, round deltoids, lats (back), with a tiny waistline, shapely thighs and calves.

Pundits assert that if Delamine is interested and decides to take up female Body Building she would make a formidable competitor. Then, there would be hope for Antigua in female Body Building as Beverly Percival moves off the stage.

Now we come to my favourite part of the competition. I am a little biased to this part because, of course I was there for several years.

Due to a lack of competition this year, the weight classes were somewhat merged or overlapped from the normal IFBB classifications. There were only three classes: Light, Middle, and Heavyweight. With no Steve Williams and Ollyn Martin, a new Mr. Antigua was likely to be crowned.

Justin Smith took the Lightweight class, edging out Junior “Shorty” Adams. Justin is quite young, but has kept up competing every year since his first competition a few years ago. My advice to Justin is to add some more “sweep” to his quads, and tighten up his lower back. However, as his physique matures, more muscularity will eventually come. He was in very good shape on the night of the show.



When the Middleweights came on stage and I knew it was going to be a bit of a dog-fight  in this class. Alfredo “Toonkie” Allen and his gym mate Alfred Jarvis were both in this class, and they have been at it for some time now.

However, I saw a new face to the competition, in the person of Omari Joseph, and this guy caught my eye immediately. Omari has a facial resemblance to the current Mr. Olympia, Phil Heath (with hair added). He also has some huge biceps that seem to reach to the heavens when he flexes. He also has stage confidence , which is so important in body Building. I think this guy has a lot of potential. He was certainly pumped up for the show and gave a very good account of himself. However, he had to settle for third place.

Alfredo Allen did his usual charismatic posing routine, lip-syncing again to his music. It was good, but again, and I stress this every year, “Toonkie” needs to come in much sharper if he seriously wants to contest for the Mr. Antigua Title. He had to settle for second place.

So it was Alfred Jarvis who stormed onto the stage with a crowd pleasing posing routine that earned him the Middleweight title. Alfred does not have an aesthetically pleasing physique like a Keithroy Titus, but works with what he has and always give 110 per cent. Congratulations to Alfred.

Now we come to the big boys the heavy weights. I was pleased to see a former teammate of mine to the 1997 CAC championships return to the stage in Antigua. Lynroy Henry showed up in shape many years adrift from his first time on stage in Antigua. He is a very good poser and did just that on the night. He is a veteran of the stage who has in the past defeated the likes of Steve Williams. But what would be the outcome tonight?

Also returning was Anthony “Zeus” Edwards. Zeus was also a compatriot of mine on the stage, but on this night his comeback needed about 3-5 more weeks preparation. His posing was quite good, as us old school guys are all good at that. Zeus, keep trying, and I hope you can win one for the older ones.

Big Dave Peters had a good night. He was in better condition than last year, and posed to a song  by Whitney Houston. This was like unchartered waters for the Big man, but he did well enough.

And then, Kennie Jacobs stepped on stage. Kennie was second in the light heavy weights last year to Mr. Merrick, and certainly did his homework for this year. Kennie was full, big and chisel-cut. His only weakness, in my opinion, is his upper back, and general lower body mass. Kennie wanted to win since two years ago, and as I encouraged him, he has certainly showed up and did his best. He emerged as the winner of the heavy weights, with Lynroy Henry taking second, and Dave Peters third.

Kennie was later crowned Mr. Antigua 2012 when he  defeated Justin Smith and Alfred Jarvis.



Big congratulations to Kennie on a well-deserved championship.

Noticeably missing from the competition this year were trophies for the placing competitors. I wonder if this is as a result of financial constraints from the ABABWF. The Simon Bolivar center was not packed, perhaps due to the absence of several “big” names from the show.

Nevertheless, I hope that Sonia Allred and her executive will continue to work diligently to raise the level of the sport in Antigua.

Well, until next year, keep training smartly, let God be your guide in all things, stay healthy and strong.

See you in the Gym!

Vaughn Joseph

Former National Light weight champion X 3

OECS Champion “bantam weight”

CAC Finalist 1997

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