Raiders repeat as basketball champs
Good evening, I’m James Adderley and we want to welcome you to this hefty September portion of Sports Monday. There were vents galore for the Belizean sports fan over the weekend. And while we couldn’t capture everything, we certainly are proud to show you what we’ve got.
We go straight to the podium inside the Princess Hotel where Friday night Eric Meighan takes top honours in the novice class in the annual Mr. Belize bodybuilding contest. Allan San finishes second and Lindford Buckley has to settle for third place.
So we move up to the junior class where these three hopefuls are hoping to be the man of the evening, and they’re all pumped up. Eric Meighan knows how difficult it is to win the novice class and the junior class in the same tournament as he settles for third place. A disappointed Rene Riverol takes second place, and the winner is Gerald Davis, who obviously savours the moment of victory.
Meanwhile, this head-on clash of females re-defines competition at it highest levels and there’s no doubting they’re dead serious since only one can be Ms. Belize 2003.
This is one time we can with confidence say there are no losers as Cindy accepts the second place trophy. And the winner is Lurnette Sankey, and yes Miss Belize, you are nothing to play with.
In the masters category a long time champion came out of retirement to challenge gold medallist Dillon Jones. And does give Jones a run for his money, but Joseph McLaren falls short in dethroning the defending champion.
Now we arrive at the main event for the prestigious Mr. Belize title. We’ve got five bidders in a prime time package of wall-to-wall muscle. Hey George, freeze the film on this pair of Belizean gold medallist in the hunt and you get a feeling this is a world-class affair. Then there’s my man Gilroy Nembhard fresh from the states in search of new glory in a man made war.
My question to you is how do you choose the best from among many, and as you can see, everybody is coming down rock hard. Folks, you know bodybuilding is a non-contact sport, but it is also a competition that takes no prisoners.
And third place goes to Gilroy Nembhard out of the United States.
Gold medallist Deon Danderson steps up into the runner up slot, he has shown vast improvement. And the 2003 Mr. Belize titleholder is Edwin Ramirez, who really looks the role. There is no doubt about it; you are number one. We say congratulations to the entire bodybuilding community.
Now let’s head to the Belize port for the start of the fourth annual Lionman Triathlon as some sixty athletes jump into a cold and rough Caribbean Sea around eight a.m. to kick off the three event race.
If you’re a swimmer, you will appreciate the stroke of Keith Buga who walks away from the pack with each stroke. And here he is the first male to couple the half-mile swim.
On the ladies side, it’s Sarah Schmitz who finished the quarter mile swim first. In the meantime a search for the defending champion Hubert Johnson finds him climbing out of the swim to begin phase two.
Folks, two former champions: Johnson and the 2000 champ Glenn Jones wouldn’t let each other out of sight on the bikes. At the turning point they’re both looking to overtake the lead rider, and in fact they do that quite easily.
Not too far behind the 2001 champion Kenroy “Smoke” Gladden and Beeps Phillips try to stay in contact with the leaders. And yes, the fifteen miles of biking ends with both Johnson and Jones making the transition from bike to feet around the same time.
Meanwhile, we rejoin the leaders around the Princess Margaret Drive, and they’re still holding on to each other.
They are still together the curve to the finish line inside the Marion Jones Stadium–when Hubert Johnson pulls out a higher gear. Jones has no reply and Hubert Johnson takes his second Lionman win in two years and we say congratulations big time.
Hubert Johnson, Winner, 2003 Lionman Triathlon
“I wasn’t scared of Jones, because like I said, I know he is a champion, but the year he won, I came in along with them in the track, so I know that it could be a close event.”
James Adderley
“About the sprint in the end, that burst of energy, where did that come from?”
Hubert Johnson
“It was something that I practiced James. Every time I run I make sure that in the last eight hundred metres, regardless of how tired I am, I always put on that afterburners, I always give it.”
James Adderley
“Hubert, you’re forty-one years old, what you feel about this, you compete in the masters category and you win overall.”
Hubert Johnson
“Well it shows that training has nothing to do with age to a certain extent. It’s what you put in and what you get out of it.”
Glenn Jones, 2nd Place, Lionman Triathlon
“On the road I transitioned from the biking to running first, but I was feeling a bit of pressure with the head wind coming in. The champion then overtook me and I start of draft the whole way to Princess Margaret Drive. I tried a few attacks, but it was unsuccessful. Thereafter I noticed that he was a very strong runner, so I decided I would only stay with him, don’t aggravate him, because if he attacks me then I’ll be through the back door. I came in and I thought that maybe at the end he would have slowed down, but he just blew away.”
Kenroy “Smoke” Gladden, the 2001 champ revived enough after a very unhelpful swim to take third place. Dr. Figueroa finishes fourth and number seven rounds out the top five, our apologies with the lack of name.”
On the ladies side of the equation, Sarah Schmitz won the battle with defending champion Claudette Maheia, taking advantage of her running abilities. Maheia, had certainly shown to be the superior athlete on the bicycle, nevertheless she puts up a gallant fight and settles for second.
Sarah Schmitz, Female Champion
“I knew when I got to the Princess Hotel that we didn’t have that much further to go, so I knew I could kick it up just a little bit and I’d be pretty safe.”
James Adderley
“What do you think about your competitor, the defending champion?”
Sarah Schmitz
“She’s tough, she’s good, she’s a good runner, strong cyclist, very strong cyclist.”
In the meantime, Hubert Johnson broke his own record of one hundred and thirty-four minutes, with a new time of one hour, twenty-eight minutes. Yer what Lionman Triathlon committee, let’s do it again next year.
We now go to the City Centre for Friday night’s game four of the semi-pro basketball finals with B.T.L. Nets down two games to one to the Raiders and trying to stay alive against the defending champion.
The Raiders go to work immediately. Kevin Seroki charges in for the first two points of the ballgame. Darren Bovell replies for the Nets with this wicked scoop shot that looks like a trick shot. And on the next possession, Charlie Thompson gets good eye contact with Keith Acosta, who mashes the pill home.
At the other end Damon Ollie displays the ability to adjust the shot as he rainbows the baby jumper. And of course, if the Nets are going to give up control of the boards like this to the Raiders, they will take advantage, so Clinton “Lamb” Fuller gives his team a ten-point lead.
I guess this on this play in front of the Belize City referee; Keith Acosta might have thrown himself down. Nevertheless at the half the Raiders are up by twelve points.
In second half action, the Raiders rev up the offence–Kurt Burgess goes glass for two beautiful points. When unstoppable Damon Ollie drops down this bucket in heavy traffic, the Raiders go up by all nineteen points, you know it’s over.
Keith Acosta tries to takes the Nets on his back and cuts the lead to fourteen points here, but it just isn’t good enough. The Raiders win game four 79-57 in a route to win their seventh semi-pro basketball championship. The number one seed has given up the title to the number three seed. Life is real.
Finally in football news, Regents Cup play over the weekend saw Builder’s Hardware Bandits bomb Kulture Yabra 1-zip. Sagitun picked up its first season loss in a 2-1 score to Juventus yesterday at the People’s Stadium, while Griga United and San Pedro Seahawks battled to a scoreless stalemate. The match between Real Verdes and Jacintoville United at Cayo was postponed due to venue problems. I hope they get that straightened out and we get back to track as quickly as possible.
That’s it for now. We certainly want to thank all our cameramen for their great work over the weekend. Jah over all! I’m James Adderley.
