82-year-old Vincentian bodybuilder bags another victory

An 82-year-old Vincentian bodybuilder has bagged another victory in the Trinidad and Tobago Body Builders and Fitness Federation over 70s Championships.

Born in 1941, Urias McHutcherson was a resident of Dickson Village, Georgetown where he spent his teenage years following his father wherever he went.

“He used to cut logs…to burn coals. I used to look at him cutting with an axe, so I used to tell myself I would like to be like him, to be as strong as him…”

When McHutcherson grew older, he entered the workforce as a teacher at the Dickson Methodist School, then began serving in the Royal St Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force in 1960 and resigned as a police constable in 1964.

At age 23, in the same year of his resignation, McHutcherson moved to Trinidad and Tobago where he started competing in body building.

And when SEARCHLIGHT asked McHutcherson, what is it about the sport that has kept him intrigued for so many decades, his response was, “I went to the hospital for a check up, and the doctor was a Nigerian doctor…. When I took off my jersey…he called all the other doctors who’s around and the nurses and say, ‘Come and see this man,” and it was at this point that McHutcherson would tell them that he’s a body builder.

In his lifetime, McHutcherson has copped the top three positions in many body building championships, including the number one spot in the over-70 Masters division of the Trinidad and Tobago Bodybuilders Federation Senior National Championships in September of 2018, as well as the Caribbean Championships.

This year, he again won the Trinidad and Tobago Body Builders and Fitness Federation over 70’s Championships.

McHutcherson said that he is proud to be “my age and could do so well.”

However, McHutcherson explained that his success has cost him his time and energy, but he has got to a point where such a sacrifice has become natural.

“…I get so accustomed to it, I can’t do without it, without training. I train four days a week: Monday, Tuesday, rest Wednesday, go back and train Thursday, Friday and then I rest for the weekend, I don’t do any training.”

“Things very expensive…getting ready to prepare…because you have to buy supplements and supplements are very expensive now, very expensive; but to…function properly you have to use food supplements. I train hard, put my mind into it and do what I have to do. I never took steroid. Never did. Never see it. I just hear the name of it, but I never used it.”

McHutcherson also said that though there is no competition in particular that he has his eyes on, he does not intend on pressing pause on his body building dreams.

“I just want to keep going. I wouldn’t stop,” he said.

He encourages those who intend to compete on his level in body building to “join a gym. If they don’t want to do it at home, join a gym and train hard, work hard. Keep fit.”