Recently members at Newton Aycliffe gym CrossFit All Out, have been participating in CrossFit competitions all over the country. The majority of CrossFit style competitions aim to test all areas of strength and fitness with numerous high intensity workouts, which incorporate elements of weight lifting, gymnastics and endurance. It is so highly varied that athletes for example, can have an event where they have to find a one rep max Olympic lift, followed by a 5km run for time.

Some highlights from the different competitions that members have competed in this year are:

The Glacier Games

The Thaw (mixed sex pairs)

We had an incredible 15 teams qualify and compete for this event which was held at Gateshead Stadium on 23rd & 24th March. All teams showed incredible support for each other and gave it their all on the day.

RX Unders

Team “Caught a cougar” – Becky Auton & Paul Hilder – 10th Place

Team “Two Smokin’ Barbells” – Carol Mohan & Chris Knight – 13th Place

“Team Benatar” – Claire Dale & Michael Couch – 37th Place

RX Masters

Team “All Out Masters” –Terry Anderson & Vicki Finn-Smith – 2nd Place

Team “The Split Jerks” – Bex Shaw & Matthew Taylor – 7th Place

Scaled One

Team “All Out or Nothing” – Daniel Boulton & Hayley Ashmead – 15th Place

Team “Young Guns” – Connor Elston & Courtnie Mills – 21st Place

Team “Straight Outta Greggs” – Allen McGee & Kirby Wood – 31st Place

Team “Run Like The Winded” – Jonny Griffith & Sophie Moffatt – 57th Place

Team “The Parent Traps” – Alex Armstrong & Janet Roote – 58th Place

Team “Wakenshaw Warriors” – Dave Cooke & Nicola Jacques – 75th Place

Team “We Only Came For The Beers” – Josh Burlison & Leigh Ann Bennett – 90th Place

Team “HMS All Out” – Kenneth Storey & Marie Levitt – 103rd Place

Scaled 2

Team “The Bold and The Bald” – Sophie Bentley & Troy Hemmings – 46th Place

Team “Mobility Matters” – Adam Innes & Andrea Lynagh – 52nd Place

Battle Of Britain

The Head Coach at CrossFit All Out Terry Anderson and fellow Coach and training partner Vicki Finn Smith, headed down to Staffordshire on 19th April to compete in the ‘Battle of Britain’ held over the Easter weekend. Overall there were 6 events in the masters category (over 35’s). Terry managed a 7th place finish after 3 days of gruelling competition; and Vicki earned a spot on the podium with a 2nd place finish, after taking 1st place in 4 out of the 6 workouts and narrowly missing out on the top spot by 1 point. She said “the highlight was seeing all of the extra work we have done on gymnastics and strength, paying off.”

The Rainhill Trials

BodyPower Expo

A group of members travelled down to Birmingham to support and compete at The Rainhill Trails CrossFit competition that was held at The NEC from 10th – 12th March 2019. Each category had a total of 120 athletes competing on that day, and the top 15 athletes after 4 workouts made the final:

Rastrick Category

(10th March)

Sophie Moffatt – 10th Place

Leigh Ann Bennett – 11th Place

Danielle Mcalpine – 52nd Place (qualified 64th)

Both Leigh and Sophie made the final workout where they finished in joint 8th. Athletes managed to gain personal best scores in the clean and jerk event, with Leigh hitting 72.5KG, Sophie 55Kg and Danielle 52.5KG. Sophie was also able to take the event win for WOD 4A.

Kennedy Category

(11th March)

Courtnie Mills – 1st Place (qualified 22nd)

Janet Roote – 20th Place (qualified 38th)

A 1st place finish in WODs 4A and 4B saw Courtnie through to the final in second place, where she was able to gain some extra points and take the overall category win. “I went into the competition with no expectations, just gave it my all and made sure I enjoyed the whole experience of competing as an individual for the very first time in CrossFit. To finish 1st Place out of 120 competitors was the most surreal feeling.”

First Means Everything

On 13th April 4 members from CrossFit All Out travelled to Sunderland to compete in an individual CrossFit event. Chris McGeevor competed in the RX U35 category, where he finished 22nd out of 38 competitors, his best finish being in event 4 where he placed 10th. Leigh Ann Bennett competed in the scaled U35 category, this was her first individual CrossFit competition and she was able to finish in 15th place overall. Her best finish was in event 2A, where she placed 3rd by completing a 55KG cluster and hang cluster. Stewart Smith and Richard Gates both competed in the scaled 35-44 category. Richard finished in 8th position overall in this category, his best performance being in event 2A and 2B where he placed 6th. Stewart finished in 4th overall, with a 1st place finish in event 2A after completing a 90KG cluster and hang cluster. All athletes thoroughly enjoyed the day at a well ran local CrossFit event.

The Rainhill Team Trials

4 members travelled down to Manchester to compete in a mixed team of 4 CrossFit event, which was held on 25th and 26th May. Team “Riff Raff” representing CrossFit All Out (Becky Auton, Carol Mohan, Matthew Taylor and Paul Hilder) said they “Great weekend laughing from start to finish. It was all of our first 2-day competition, having 5 workouts over the 2 days, all being different tests.” Team Riff Raff finished in 28th place out of 85 teams, with a highlight of finishing in 15th place for WOD 2B and just missing out on the final workout.

The Castle Games Individuals

This competition was held on 1st and 2nd June at Middlesbrough Sports Village, where 3 All Out members took part.

Alex Armstrong competed in the scaled category, where he was able to finish in 32nd place out of 72 competitors, his best finish being in event 3 in 24th place.

Becky Auton competed in the RX U35 category, where she qualified 43rd and jumped up the leaderboard 20 places to finish in 23rd place overall, her best finish being event 2 where she took 8th place.

Jake Hillman aged only 15 but a member of All Out from being aged 10, competed in the teen 13-17 category, meaning he was up against others much older than himself. Jake was able to storm his way through the workouts, also hitting a very impressive 90KG squat clean during event 1. Jake missed out on the final by only one spot and finished in 6th place overall after qualifying in 9th position!

Head Coach Terry Anderson said “our team are dedicated to seeing all members improve and reach their full potential, both in the gym and at competitive athlete level. To have so many members reaching a level of both fitness and confidence to take part in these competitions all over the UK, is a credit to their commitment and consistency with CrossFit All Out. We are all incredibly proud of the achievements we see on a weekly basis from our members of all ages and backgrounds. The support they offer each other within this thriving community is humbling to see and we hope it continues for many more years to come. It’s definitely a team effort.”