“We are strong, beautiful, fierce, competitive, humble and full of grace. We can still give those younger than us a run for their money.” ~Jennifer Hunter-Marshall on masters athletes
Photos below courtesy of Shaun Cleary
Jennifer Hunter-Marshall, a five-time North East Regional individual competitor, is headed to the CrossFit Games.
She’ll take the field at the Reebok Headquarters in Canton, Massachusetts, on May 29, with her ticket to Carson, California, already punched.
Hunter-Marshall, who turned 40 this January, qualified to compete at the StubHub center in July for the first time as a masters athlete. She finished the first-ever Masters Qualifier in 18th place in the Masters Women 40-44 Division, and has accepted the invitation to compete at the Games.
She and her husband, Dennis Marshall, own CrossFit Garden City, in Garden City, New York, and are both members of the CrossFit Level 1 Seminar Staff, traveling around the world to conduct CrossFit Level 1 Seminars.
While Jennifer also qualified to compete a sixth consecutive time as an individual at the 2014 North East Regional, she opted instead to compete as a member of Team CFGC.
“I decided to decline my invitation for the regional because I have gone five years in a row and I want to experience something different,” she said. “I know at this point in my CrossFit journey that I am not going to go to the Games as an individual.”
This will also be the first time she and Dennis will compete together.
“I have the opportunity to compete with my husband, my best friend and my coach, Dennis,” Jennifer said. “I find that priceless. I am so proud to represent my community—more so than myself.”
Jennifer said she has made peace with the fact that her talents may be better served on the team.
“Jenn has always had a very healthy perspective on competition and training in general,” Dennis said. “She wants to get better and be competitive in this sport as much as the next person, but she recognizes that if she is not enjoying the process and having fun, then it is simply not a productive way to spend your time.”
Dennis is responsible for his wife’s programming, focusing on leveraging her strengths and managing her weaknesses. She trains with the CrossFit Garden City team when at home, and with fellow Level 1 Seminar Staff members while on the road.
“We've always kept a close eye on her total volume of training given the fact that she travels so often on weekends and maintains a pretty hectic work schedule during the week,” Dennis said. “Her training at this point is less about doing more work for the sake of doing more work and more focused on refining specific skills, movements and capacities.”
Dennis introduced Jennifer to CrossFit in 2006, and credits her longevity in the sport to a combination of constant dedication to the fundamentals, listening to her body and respecting the process of proper strength development and progression in complex movements.
“The travel can be demanding, especially when it is three to four weekends in a row, and it obviously takes a toll both physically and mentally,” Jennifer said. “Like anything in life, it is simply a matter of finding balance, keeping things in perspective and appreciating the incredible opportunities I have been given.”
During the 2014 Open, Jennifer did every workout twice.
“I figured, 'Why not?’” she said. “I did take myself off social media and the Leaderboard for the entire Open. I wanted to focus on my own individual best effort and not be distracted by what everyone else was doing and saying.”
This year, the top 200 masters athletes worldwide in each age division participated in the Masters Qualifier. They were asked to complete four events in four days, and the top 20 athletes in each division received invitations to the CrossFit Games.
“I think the workouts were comparable to a regional weekend,” Jennifer said. “We had a test of strength, high-skilled gymnastics and Olympic lifting, and a total burner. I think it was well balanced.”
Jennifer’s approach to the Masters Qualifier was different from her approach to the Open, more out of necessity than by design.
“I had not worked out in over two weeks due to minor surgery, so I had only one shot to give it all that I had,” she said. “I did the clean and rowing workout on Saturday—PR'd my power clean by 15 lb. I did Amanda on Sunday—PR'd by over two minutes. I did the pull-up/wall-ball workout on Monday and didn’t find out until later that I had a strained lat.”
The strained lat contributed to a 78th place on Event 4. She finished 39th in Event 3, fifth in Event 1 and fourth in Event 2.
Those finishes, coupled with her 16th place in the Open worldwide in her division were good enough to earn her the invitation to her first CrossFit Games.
“As a new masters athlete, I don't want to be treated any differently,” Jennifer said. “I am still a strong, high-skilled athlete and I want to be challenged as such. I do not have the recovery that I once had, but I can still do the work and I am still getting better.”
She added: “We are another face for fitness. We are strong, beautiful, fierce, competitive, humble and full of grace. Don't let our age fool you. We can still give those younger than us a run for their money.”
