Soepe Koese wins Mr. Flex Night Int. from Green, Clarke & Harlequin

Dec 10, 2012 Sports

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– Taharally (Best Legs), Warner (Bikini) & Fortune (Flex Night) are top ladies

By Franklin Wilson
Mr. Suriname Soepe ‘The Little Dutchman’ Koese sealed excellent back to back weekends of competition when he was declared Mr. Flex Night International by Chief Judge Donald Sinclair on Saturday night at the National Cultural Centre bringing the curtains down on a top class evening of quality bodybuilding.

Like he did in Suriname the previous weekend in his home land, Koese won the 154lbs & Under category before returning to whip three Guyanese, Rawle Green – Over 176lbs winner; Kerwin Clarke – 155 – 165lbs winner and Delon Harlequin 166 – 176lbs winner in that order in the Mr. Flex Night Overall Showdown.
Like the Bible story of David and Goliath, ‘The Little Dutchman’ proved that height and size was surely not an issue but it was who displayed their artillery the best on the night, enough to gain the nod of the Guyana and Surinamese judges who had the final say.
Soepe was able to stave off the challenge of USA based Guyanese Rawle Green who has improved leaps and bounds since his last performance on stage in Guyana, and the local based duo of Mr. Hugh Ross Classic Kerwin Clarke and Delon Harlequin.
Guyana emerged as the winner of the best country trophy having accumulated more first place wins; the Brazilians who were carded to be here encountered some passport challenges and were unable to attend according to Managing Director of Flex Night Incorporated, Donald Sinclair.
While the competition was stiff among the male athletes, patrons were pleased to see equally keen competition among the ladies, the largest numbers in many years.
Taking the Miss Flex Night Best Legs top prize from a group of five competitors who appeared twice on stage was seasoned campaigner Nadina Taharally whose experience set her apart from the rest of the competition; the other ladies were making their respective debuts at this level.
In round-one the ladies appeared in the mini dress sequence which they displayed to music individually while round-two saw them performing the compulsory poses in a whole piece suit. Stacy Small placed 2nd, Chelan Yhap 3rd with Marissa Lowden and Shawnell Warner 4th and 5th.
This was the first competition on the night and for the top three ladies to be separated judge #1 requested further comparisons in round-two.
The Miss Bikini contest had the crowd going and naturally so, this contest attracted four contestants also appearing in two rounds. When the competition was through, Shawnell Warner took the coveted first place trophy leaving Yhap, Taharally and Small in her wake in that order.
Guyana’s most dominant female bodybuilder, the multi talented Alisha Fortune was the clear winner in the Miss Flex Night challenge winning hands down from another debutant, Berbice based Candace Lynch who will be a force to reckon with the in the future.
The most competitive category on the night was the 176 and over class which attracted 7 competitors in the finals; pre-judging which was held on Saturday morning shaved off 4 athletes.
Green, who appeared for his free posing routine with the Golden Arrowhead in hands, indicated that he was there for business given the fact that two Surinamese were also in this category. As anticipated, the judges had to narrow down the field in order to arrive at the top three so following the first round of compulsory poses, further comparisons were requested among Green, Melvin Tolud (Suriname), Wendell Setropa Wiro (Suriname) and Royston Booker.
The well shredded, sculpted and balanced Green pulled away to emerge champ of this category with the Surinamese duo of Setropa Wiro and Tolud having to settle for the 2nd and 3rd place, Booker settling for 4th.
Also attracting seven athletes was the 154lbs and Under division which required two further comparisons after the initial set of compulsory poses. Koese, Devon Davis, Sylvan Gardner and Marlon Bennett were the competitors involved in further comparisons and when that was not enough, Davis was dropped from the line up as the judges sought to decide on the top spots.
Koese ended up the winner followed by Gardner, Bennett, Davis, Donelle Perry, Andy Rogers and Melroy Grant in that order. One athlete was dropped from this field at prejudging.
Kerwin Clarke bested his rivals in the Mr. Flex Night 155 – 165lbs clash, beating Surinamese Jurgen Tjoekoemba into second place. Rudolph Blackman ended 3rd, Rawle Cole 4th, Richard Bynoe 5th with Orlando Dublin bringing up the rear.
The 166 – 176lbs category attracted two competitors with Delon Harlequin toping Abdool Shaheer.
Making an appearance and captivating the crowd was Dutch Body Fitness Queen Gisa ter Haar. The Holland based ter Haar looked every bit a fitness queen, sporting a fit body and a performance of quality, even though short. The mother of two encouraged the female attendees to pursue a lifestyle of fitness.
The evening started off with the parade of the 29 athletes, four of which were from Suriname. Minister of Sport Dr. Frank Anthony declared the event open.
Some of the sponsors of prizes were Digicel, Banks DIH, Fitness Express, International Pharmaceutical Agency. Lucky patrons also won attractive prizes while there were also giveaways to by Banks DIH and Digicel.

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