PLETTENBERG BAY NEWS - A group of Plettenberg Bay Crossfit athletes did the town proud when they returned with two medals after competing in the Endurade East Cape Championships over the past weekend.
The group, who represented Crossfit Plett, consisted of three teams of which two members participated in both the team and individual events.
The competition is hosted annually by Crossfit Algoa and invites athletes to test their fitness, endurance and strength against some of the toughest athletes in the country.
Crossfit is a sport involving constantly varied, high-intensity, functional movement drawing on categories and exercises such as callisthenics, Olympic-style weightlifting, powerlifting, strongman-type events, plyometrics, body weight exercises, indoor rowing, aerobic exercise, running, and swimming.
In a competition setting, athletes have to “expect the unexpected”, and the past weekend’s competition was no different.
Spanning three days, from 7 to 9 September, the competition began with a full day of individual events, including swimming in the ocean, beach runs, sled-pulling through the sand and dumbbell work. There were also events that combined gymnastic movements and weightlifting.
Teacher comes out tops
Wittedrift Primary School teacher Malandi du Toit managed to secure the top podium spot after setting blistering times during most of the events. She participated in the “scaled” category. The other categories were the newly added intermediate category and RX for the elite athletes.
“It was great to be surrounded by like-minded, fitness-driven people. There were a few tough events and I had to dig deep at times not to hit the wall,” Du Toit said.
In a competition setting, athletes have to “expect the unexpected”, and the past weekend’s competition was no different.
This attitude carried her through another gruelling two days of competition as part of Team Rocksteady alongside local police officer Christopher Boer, reporter and teacher Yolandé Stander and fitness coach Dwayne Hurn. They managed to do as their name suggests, steadily climbing up the leaderboard and finally securing second place in the intermediate category out of 21 participating teams.
“I am very proud of all the Crossfit Plett athletes who participated. They showed that hard work and dedication pays off,” said Crossfit Plett owner and coach Donald Ravenscroft.
Crossfit Plett had two more teams who participated including The Outsiders that consisted of husband-and-wife duo Gert and Marianne van Jaarsveld as well as locals Robyn de Vries and Mathew Bester. They finished in the top 10 scaled teams in ninth spot.
Till Failure, which consisted of father-and-son team Daron and Noah Chaz as well as Kirsty Chambers, finished in 16th position.
'We bring you the latest Plettenberg Bay, Garden Route news'
