Bullsmen Club of Pokhara is organising the fourth edition of Mr Bullsmen Open National Bodybuilding Championships on September 22 and 23 at the Heritage Garden in Sanepa, Lalitpur.

The Kaski-based club will be organising the event for the first time outside the home town with a view to promote the event and also find title sponsors, according to Nuna Gurung, president of Bullsmen Club.

“Though we have been organising the national level bodybuilding event on a biennial basis since 2012, we are yet to find a title sponsor for the event. We are hopeful that organising the event in the capital city will not only promote the event, but will also help in finding sponsors,” said Gurung at a press conference organised on Tuesday to inform about the championships.

The event will have four main categories including men’s bodybuilding in seven weight categories, men’s physique in two categories, women’s open wellness and women’s open physique, according to Bullsmen Club Secretary Uddim Gurung.

The men’s bodybuilding will have seven weight divisions including 55kg, 60kg, 65kg, 70kg, 75kg, 80kg and above 80kg. The men’s physique will be classified into two categories – below 170cm and above 170cm. In the men’s physique, athletes are required to display muscular development maintaining a leaner overall build than that seen in traditional bodybuilding.

The women bodybuilders will vie in the open wellness category which focuses on symmetry, proportions, general appearance. The other event in the women’s section includes open physique.

The overall champion of the bodybuilding will bag a purse of Rs500,000 along with trophy, medal and certificate. The top three finishers of each weight categories in the bodybuilding will walk away with purse of Rs35,000, Rs25,000 and Rs20,000 respectively.

The top three finishers in men’s and women’s physique will walk away with equal purse of Rs100,000, Rs50,000 and Rs35,000 respectively.

The estimated cost of the event is Rs6.5 million and the organisers have expected to raise Rs7 million, mostly through donations drives from abroad-based Nepali communities.