This November members from CrossFit All Out travelled far and wide to compete against some of the top CrossFit athletes in the country. The first competition was held on 9th November at Sports City, Manchester. Two teams from All Out qualified for The Rainhill Trials’ very first same sex pairs event earlier in the year; bagging themselves a spot at the finals.
Team Better Without (Wall) Balls
Danielle McAlpine and Sophie Moffatt; two strong ladies who have consistently trained at All Out for a number of years now. They competed in the Rastrick category, qualifying in 39th position and finishing in 28th place on the day. They had a best place finish of 24th in event 3, where they had to complete 21/15/9 synchro power snatches and burpee box jumps. They completed this in a speedy time of 5:14. Sophie said, “It was a fab day with Danielle at The Rainhill Trials’ first same sex pairs comp. The workouts played to our strengths and we gave our all and enjoyed every second! A well ran comp by Rainhill Trials as always! Also great support from Sophie Lineton who travelled down to Manchester with us just to support!”
Team Biscuits For Cheese
Leigh Walton and Phil McAlpine; both of them have also trained day in day out at All Out for numerous years now. They competed in the Rastrick category, battling their way through 4 tough workouts and ending up finishing in 55th place out of 71 competitors. Their best place finish was event 3 whereby they completed 21/15/9 power snatches and box jumps in a time of 5:53!
The second competition was Battle for Middle Ground Mixed Pairs, which was held at Hangar 42 in Leicestershire. Two teams from All Out completed a series of qualifying workouts earlier this year, in order to gain themselves a place at the Finals on 16th November.
Team Thomas and the Tank
Courtnie Mills and Tom Morgan paired up and competed in the Middle Ground division, originally qualifying in 39th position earlier this summer and finishing in 33rd place on the day of the finals. They had a best place finish of 19th in two out of four events named ‘Barbell Cycle’ and ‘Sprint Nate’. Courtnie, also a trainee Coach at the gym, said, “It was an absolute pleasure competing alongside Tom at Battle For Middle Ground. It was a day of both highs and lows, but there were plenty of positives to take away! It’s great to see the hard work paying off and watching weaknesses turn in to strengths on the competition floor. Always grateful for the support from CrossFit All Out members, it wouldn’t be the same without them all cheering us on!”
Team Caught A Cougar
Becky Auton and Paul Hilder also competed in the Middle Ground division at this event and finished in 35th place on the day of the finals. They had a best place finish of 23rd in event two, ‘Chipper’ whereby the completed 50 alternating lunges, 35 squats and 20 hang cleans, all with a heavy worm, in a time of 6:39! Paul said, “We had no expectations from the day and just wanted to go and enjoy ourselves as this was our first time competing at this event. We worked well together in every workout and kept each other going throughout the day. That’s what these competitions are all about: teamwork. Our best events were the Worm Chipper and Devils Row on the day, and it was good that we both discovered skills we need to work on and improve. We took a lot away with us from this competition and it’ll be great to see if we can improve on this year’s placing in next year’s Mixed Pairs event.”
Head Coach Terry Anderson said “one of the things we pride ourselves on is the strong community we have at the gym, one which has been built on years of people pushing themselves to turn up week in, week out. To see these people come together and compete in team events like these, of all different ages and abilities, is just the optima of the CrossFit community we strive to keep delivering. The attitude of these athletes is what our team of Coaches are most proud of and we love seeing them continue to train smart, whilst pushing themselves out of their comfort zones. Well done teams.”
