New B.B.B.F.F. Executive Elected; End of World Race 2022 Successfully Held

Goodnight and welcome to another edition of Sports Monday, I am Paul Lopez. The Belize Bodybuilding and Fitness Federation has a new executive. The federation held its A.G.M. over the weekend, when its leadership election was held. This is one week after hosting its annual Mr. Belize competition. Two-term President Mirna Paul-Greenidge stepped down. And, after the votes were cast and counted, veteran bodybuilder Guy Neal, co-owner of Neal and Gordon Gym, was elected the new BBBFF president. George Myvette was elected Assistant to the President. Dalan Jones was voted in as the Executive Director.  Josephine Gault was elected as the Secretary General. Nelson Young was voted in as Assistant Secretary. The new committee members include Godfrey Alford, Annlyn Apolonio, and Abu Sesay. We spoke with the President Neal at his gym this morning about his vision.

Guy Neal

Guy Neal, President, B.B.B.F.F.

“The thing I really want to do for body building, it has always been a struggle to get especially the females out. We need female body builders, female bikini and it’s a struggle but I the look forward to work myself off to get some of those off on the stage come Mr. Belize next year.”

Paul Lopez

“How do we really sponsorship around this sport, make it attractive to the point that private entities may want to put their monies behind it?”

Guy Neal

“Yes, the supplements always take a toll on you. It is very expensive. I could recall a few years ago when I use to compete, if you don’t have a nice enough job or good sponsorship, I think with sponsorship if you go very early so that they can put it in a budget, that is one of our p[problem. We don’t go to the sponsors early. Like next year now, January we are going to them for Mr. Belize.2:I just want to say to the public and the business entities that we ask for your support. The sport is very expensive, you give us the support and we give you your name in the advertisement of the show, thank you.”

Horseracing is being revitalized in Orange Walk Town, two years after coming to a standstill due to the Orange Walk-19 pandemic. On Sunday November twenty-seventh, the People’s Stadium Horse Race Track came alive for the final race of the year in Orange Walk. Eight races were scheduled for the day, which included sprints and mid-distance competitions. Let’s look at some highlights from the big races and then we will hear from the organizer of the race, Mayor Ladrick Sheppard.

Ladrick Sheppard

Ladrick Sheppard, Organizer, Orange Walk Horse Race

“We had eight races on the program. It was the last race for Orange Walk for 2022. It was properly organized. Most of the big horses from the entire country showed up on that day. We had our small race like the three furlong, four furlong; we had the sprint which was quite a chaos. And then finally the biggest race which was the mile race. I must say that horse race had been picking up since the pandemic in the past two years was shut down. I was influenced by the group of people behind horse race like Mr. Gilbert Canton, also Mr. Enrique Hoare, along with myself and other people that have been vying for the horse race to get back. I must say the Orange Walk race was quite exciting. The videos can tell what more or less happened and we are preparing for the final race of the year which is going to be at the Burrell Boom race track on Boxing Day, which is a traditional day for horse racing on the twenty-sixth of December.”

Gonz Cycling Club held its first race for the Christmas season on the morning of Thursday December first. Many of these riders are preparing for the New Year’s Cycling Classic. Thirty-four riders formed a queue at the starting line in front of Old Belize, here in Belize City. They made their way to the Kolbe Foundation just outside of Hattieville and back to Old Belize. Here is how that event went down, courtesy of Gonz Racing Club.

And, that was a lot of excitement right there. Congratulations to the winners of that race. And to round things off for tonight’s coverage, the Eleventh Run Belize; Placencia End of the World Marathon and Half Marathon was held on Sunday. The run is a fundraiser event. All proceeds derived from the event go towards a scholarship fund that supports Belizean students. A total of two hundred and seventy-two runners participated. Two hundred brave souls ran the half marathon at a distance of thirteen miles, while fifty-four of the strongest and fittest participated in the twenty-six mile marathon. According to the official results, the top runner in the full marathon, Mauro Cucul, completed the twenty-six miles in two hours, fifty-five minutes and ten seconds. The top runner in the half marathon, Albert Davis finished with a time of one hour, fifteen minutes and fifty-nine seconds.  We say congratulations to everyone who participated in the fundraising event.

Well folks, that is all we have for you this week, until next time, have a safe week.