BPA Holds National Lifting Championships

Goodnight and welcome to another edition of Sports Monday, I am Paul Lopez. We begin tonight’s coverage with an epic showdown of strength and discipline over the weekend inside the Saint John’s College Gymnasium. The Belize Powerlifting Association hosted its National Championships. Over the course of two days, twenty-one male and fourteen female powerlifters competed in their respective age and weight classes.  For those who may be unfamiliar with the discipline, it entails three attempts and maximal weight on three lifts: squats, bench press, deadlifts.

 

Paul Lopez, Reporting

Most of these athletes prepare year-round for these competitions. After two days, winners were declared in each category, but the monster events were the male and female open. In the female open, Belize’s strongest female, Mary Gonzalez, won gold overall, Joylynne Smith secured the silver medal and Jaqueline Alas took home the bronze medal. In the male open, Belize’s strongest man, Kaylon Godoy took home gold, with an incredible seven hundred- and sixty-five-pounds deadlift. He had his young fans out showing support. Leo Matura showed tremendous improvements this year. He secured the silver medal, while Khalid Usher tool home the bronze medal. From powerlifting we move into some football action.

 

The William Dawson Peace Cup is in the eleventh week of its 2024 season. This weekend saw four games played inside the MCC Grounds. We bring you highlights from the match between Kelly Street FC and Fort George FC. The first forty-five minutes of the match between these two teams saw great defensive and offensive prowess on both ends of the field. No goals were scored at the end of the first half, though the competitiveness of these teams was on full display. Ten minutes into the second half, the ball finds number seventeen for Fort George at the top of the goal. Number eleven for Kelly Streets stays on his side. The ball appears to go out of bound and the defenders raises his arm. But there is no whistle and a kick from inside the penalty box by Devin Bermudez placed Fort George on top.

 

The referee got into a heated debate with players from Kelly Street FC that led to the issuance of two red cards, the involvement of police officers and a threat from the losing team to discontinue the match. Eventually cooler heads prevailed, and the match continued with Kelly Street down two players. At the seventy-fourth minute, Fort George’s Carlos Lino was brought down inside the penalty box from a hard tackle. The referee awarded him a penalty kick and he made it count. The match ended in favor of Fort George FC, three goals to two.

 

And finally for tonight, the Cycling Federation of Belize, in collaboration with the Belize Electricity Limited hosted the twenty-third annual Junior and Youth Cross Country Cycling Classic. The male riders raced from San Ignacio to Belize City. The female riders journeyed from La Democracia Village to Belize City. Just outside of Belmopan, Chavarria’s Cycling Team’s Kthan Gentle and PDP Development Racing’s Kevin Rojas have gained a significant lead and are on their own out front. An hour later and it’s still these two young riders maintaining the lead, while the chase group worked to close the gap.

 

With twenty miles left in the race, GFlow’s Jaylen Briceno emerged from the chase group and made contact with the two lead riders.  Kthan Gentle was dropped at mile eleven, leaving Briceno and Rojas at front going into Belize City. Approximately one mile from the finish line, Rojas began cramping up and Jaylen Briceno took hold of the opportunity. Briceno crossed the finish line alone in first place. Rojas came behind him in second place, followed by Gflow’s Keith Enwright Junior in third place.

 

Jaylen Briceno, Junior Cross Country Champion

“This is definitely the hardest race of the season so far. My legs were cramping, I didn’t think I was gonna finish on top. I started praying when I crossed the bridge, please let something happen. Thank goodness the man cramped up right on the last stretch, that is when I took the advantage to attack on come into the line. Big kudos to my teammates, to all my family.”

 

Well folks, that is all we have for you in tonight’s coverage of Sports Monday. Catch you in the next one.