Hugh Ross wins 13th annual Musclemania
Stabroek News
April 27, 2004
Guyanese champion powerlifter turned body-builder, Hugh Ross, created history on Saturday when he won the Masters', the Open Light Heavy Weight and the Men's Open Overall titles at the 13th annual Musclemania bodybuilding competition at the East Haven Performing Arts centre in East Haven, Connecticut, USA.
Winning the overall title saw Ross picking up the prestigious Pro Card, the only one on offer at the championships.
This was Ross' second appearance at the competition following his debut last year when he won the Novices Open and Masters' divisions.
This year he returned for and got the "whole kettle of fish."
Ross joins a list of top-notch body-builders like Skip LaCour to win the event.
This is the first time that a Guyanese has won this event.
According to Wayne Goudreault, Musclemania Judge and regular guest of the Guyana Amateur Body-building & Fitness Federation (GABBFF) said "He looked phenomenal. He was thick and cut and hard."
According to president of the Guyana Amateur Bodybuilding Federation Yale Holder,"Hugh continues to make serious waves in the world of bodybuilding, and is likely to represent Guyana at this year's Central American and Caribbean Bodybuilding & Fitness Championships slated for October, 2004."
Most of the Musclemania winners have gone on to make quite an impact on the sport of body-building and appear in numerous body-building magazines and videos.
Ross was yesterday elated over his win.
Speaking to Stabroek Sports Ross said:"I travelled up to the contest venue last Friday for the mandatory drug testing as this was a totally drug free event.
"Following the registration, athlete's briefing and weigh-in where I weighed-in at 189 pounds I went to my room. I was placed in the Men's Open Light Heavyweight Division (181-195).
"I have never competed that light hence I felt rather small so after weighing in, I returned to my room and carb' loaded every two hours (eating carbohydrates). I set the alarm and woke up every two hours throughout the night to facilitate this process. I was scheduled to be on stage at 1:00pm to commence the rigorous prejudging process where you are compared with athletes in your division until they pick the top five. Only the top five in each division goes forward to the night show.
By noon Saturday I felt fully ready to do battle hence I had no problem in making the top five list in both my divisions." And, the rest is now history.
Ross said he would like to thank the Chief Of Staff of the Guyana Defence Force and other Officers and ranks who sent him well wishes, president of the GABBF Yale Holder and members and also all of his fans.
He plans to take a week off from training during which time he plans to treat himself to "every culinary dish that my mind can conceive then I will be back in training with plans to gain some more muscle mass."