Illawarra CrossFit athletes impress on home soil at Down Under Championships

Australia's premier CrossFit event, the Down Under Championships, were held at the WIN Entertainment Centre. The three-day competition attracted more than 350 athletes, who were put through a series of gruelling workouts as individuals or as part of a team.

The major individual winners over the weekend were Frankston duo Jay Crouch and Madeline Sturt, who were the elite men's and women's champions respectively, while Wollongong's Gemma Hauck finished runner-up to Sturt.

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Hauck was among a strong contingent of Illawarra participants who competed on home soil during the event. Other highlights included Ricky Garard - who finished third individually at this year's World CrossFit Games - securing second in the teams category under the name Down Under Dogs, while Kurtis Jackson came 10^th in the elite men's category.

Fitness Alley owner Abby Carvell finished 16th overall in the elite women's competition, and said it was a great honour to compete at the event in Wollongong.

"There were a few highs and lows throughout the weekend, but it was really fun," Carvell said.

"The workouts were gruelling, very hard on the body. Every single event was very 'grippy' with a lot of upper body work. There was a lot of gymnastics, and we had the lifting event which was the snatch event. So we had heavy lifting and gymnastics, and some of them were more endurance-based workouts. So they tested pretty much everything which was cool.

"The last time Down Under was at WIN was in 2019, and I competed in a team. So this year was my first big individual comp, which was cool. It was perfect for me to be able to have it in my home town, and to have all of my family and friends, and our community of Fitness Alley there, was awesome."

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Carvell said it was also great for Wollongong to host some of the world's best CrossFit athletes, including American superstar Lauren Fisher. Six-time Fittest Woman on Earth, Australian Tia-Clair Toomey didn't compete but attended the event.

"It was unreal being out the back in the athlete area with everyone, it was really cool to have some big names there. And it was great for the spectators too, nearly every category had someone to watch," she said.

"Lauren actually came into our gym to prepare the week before, so she came in and trained with us. That was really cool and she was lovely too."

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