I recently attended The Rainhill Trials, a CrossFit competition held at Birmingham NEC during ‘BodyPower Expo’, the UK’s largest health and fitness showcase. Unfortunately, even though I wasn’t able to make it on Friday to support Charlie, who finished an amazing 28 out of 120 athletes, I was able to support my fellow YMCA 1871 CrossFit athletes competing in Saturday’s events.
Reb Peacock, Amber Tipper, Harriet Renkin and Oli Milroy all took to the floor to compete in what, for most of them, was their 1st individual competition – not only testing a variety of components but also against such a large field.
Reb, Amber and Harriet were all placed in the same category as each other based on their seeding workout scores, allowing them to be able to support each other during the events. Oli was placed seeded in the same category but for males.
I arrived in time to watch Oli Pb (personal best) his snatch, for his 3rd Pb of the week in the lift. Meanwhile Amber told me she had also managed to Pb her snatch in the event as well.
BodyPower Expo allows many different athletes and fitness models to not just spectate CrossFit and but also experience other areas of health and fitness. It also allowed for a bigger field of athletes to compete due to the size available in the NEC.
Reb was first up for WOD 3 which consisted of a 10 min ascending ladder of Wall Balls and Calorie Rows starting at 10 repetitions of each and increasing by 5 with each completed round. Reb was able to get 9 calories into the round of 25 calories. Amber and Harriet were both in the same heat together and both finished round of 25s. Oli was next up and was able to complete the round with 30 Wall Balls and row 15 cals.
WOD 4 consisted of two parts, with part A being 3 rounds of 20 Pull Ups, 20 Box Jump Overs and 40 Double Unders. Once completed, part B was as many cleans as possible in the remaining time. Both Amber and Reb got close to finishing the 3 rounds before the 8-minute time cap. However, Harriet and Oli both successfully managed to get 10 and 15 cleans total before the time expired.
That was the end of the competition for Reb, Amber and Harriet.
With a shared 3rd place position in the competition, Oli made it to the final alongside the top 15 athletes. The final WOD consisted of deadlifts, toes to bar and walking lunges. Oli completed the WOD in fourth place which in turn meant he secured a fantastic final placing of 4th out of 120 athletes. Harriet finished 31st, Amber 75th and Reb finished 98th.
A well-deserved congratulations to all the YMCA athletes competing, proving that YMCA CrossFit 1871 can compete with the best of them.
A special thanks to the coaching staff who have been very supportive and helped in the development of everyone’s skills, strength and weaknesses.
Christy Johnson-Brown is a YMCA gym CrossFit 1871 member