Midleton’s Jim gets set for Mr Ireland

It may be only February, but Cork bodybuilder Jim Benskin from Midleton is already getting into shape for the Mr Ireland Body Building Championship at the end of October.

A man with a mission, Jim has begun his diet and training regime for the event, which will be held on October 27th in the Helix, Dublin City University.

“The Mr Ireland competition is the one that all Irish body builders really want to win, as it will crown them the best body builder in Ireland,” Jim said this week.

Jim has won a number of competitions in the sport, but the national title has eluded him to date.

“It’s going to be a long number of months of heavy, hard training and dieting, but I can’t wait to have a shot at Mr Ireland again this year,” Jim added.

Jim is currently to be found in training every day at Midleton Gym, and says he is going “all out” to claim first place in the competition.

Last year, Mayfield native Hugh O’Donovan took the Mr Ireland crown after winning the National Amateur Body Builders’ Association Body Building Show—a historic unification of the titles run by the sport’s two national governing bodies.

Jim Benskin begins months of hard training in preparation for Mr Ireland. Picture: Paul Cullen