Joseph “Runt” Bourne, the son of a preacher, got his prayers answered when he finally captured this country’s longest running bodybuilding contest, Mr Bridgetown, at the Combermere School Hall on Saturday night.
This was no cake-walk. Bourne, on a mission to win a title that has eluded him for most of the last two decades, had to battle all the way to hold off the persistent Mike Worrell and the relative unknown Cyprian Mallett.
Bourne had a smile as wide as Bridgetown when he was announced the winner at 9:41 p.m. before an audience that included 2012 figure Olympia contender Rosalind Vanterpool and Therold Babb, the last man to win Mr Teenager and Mr Bridgetown on the same night.
This was no vintage performance by Bourne by any means but in the end it was good enough.
He brought his striated glutes, chiselled abdominals, and his rock hard calves to the battle but as has happened every now and then in the past, there was water retention and little muscle detail in his back.
The 48-year-old Bourne, the co-owner of the Fitness Zone gym in Hastings, Christ Church, was humble in victory.
“The feeling is great. I have worked hard for this. I want to thank my sponsors Nature’s Discount and Nicole Carter for working my diet out and my training partner, Hoskin Worrell.
“I wanted to do it to prove to myself that I could be Mr Bridgetown. It is great to win after all these years. I really wanted to deliver,” said a delighted Bourne, who dedicated his victory to his 79-year-old father, pastor Alton Bourne.
Worrell almost spoilt Bourne’s party. Short, compact and prepared to fight every inch of the way, the former Barbados wicketkeeper was drier and harder than Bourne but his lack of width worked against him.He had to be satisfied with second just ahead of Mallett and Dwayne Cumberbatch, who earlier in the night was a commanding winner of the Mr Novice crown.
Mallett, 32, and Cumberbatch, 34, were the biggest men on stage. Both led the way in upper torso development but bodybuilding is about more than huge shoulders and arms, and both were let down by lack of leg development and had to be consoled with third and fourth respectively.
Nicholas Benjamin, 24, of Valley Fitness Gym, had the most pleasing shape in the six-man field but lacked muscle detail and was outgunned in the size department. He was fifth, with former Mr Teenager Jonathan Nana disappointingly smooth and at the back of the field.
The Strike Force Gym dominated the senior bikini fitness competition by way of Shakira Doughlin, Kara-Lyn Belle and Paulette Stuart, while Chloe Davis had the Brute Force Gym fans happy with victory in the junior bikini fitness.
The Mr Teenager contest was sub-standard, to say the least, with the three-man line-up the weakest for many years. Da-Quon Jones of the Stadium Gym won a forgettable competition.Crowd favourite Kevin Edwards of Strike Force Gym, was a deserving winner of the men’s physique contest while Angelee Boyce of Body by Kirk Gym took pride of place in the junior body fitness.
Visit the Nation’s Facebook page for more pictures from Saturday night’s bodybuilding contest, Mr Bridgetown.
