“Their efforts have taken all the stress and worry about the cost of attending Regionals, and allowed me to be able to relax and prepare for the competition in ideal conditions.”
Photos by: David O'Sullivan
Amy Laffan will be the only woman representing Ireland at the Europe Regional this year.
Members of Laffan’s gym, CrossFit Waterford, are proud of her they organized a deadlifting extravaganza to raise money for her travel costs.
Athletes deadlifted 1,000,000 kg in one day.
Laffan has been CrossFitting for just over a year and qualified for Regionals in 40th place. She is now following a strict training regimen set by her coach, Tom Dunphy.
“Amy is a quick learner and very determined, and has been regularly setting PRs since qualifying. We are sure she will improve on her qualifying position,” Dunphy says. “But this year is part of a learning curve for all of us, so the main objective is that she enjoys the experience.”
Two weeks before the Regional, 35 members of CrossFit Waterford were divided into three five-hour shifts to deadlift a bar loaded to 70 kg (154 lb.). For each shift between nine and 15 people were targeted to lift 333,333 kg between them.
“I got them to do five to 10 reps each, cycling through the group, and we took a 10-minute break every hour,” Dunphy says. “We actually reached the target in 11 hours and 50 minutes instead of the planned 18 hours, which was awesome.”
“We raised enough money to pay for Amy and her physio to fly to Copenhagen and stay in a luxury apartment for the duration of the competition.”
Laffan was touched by their generosity.
“Their efforts have taken all the stress and worry about the cost of attending Regionals, and allowed me to be able to relax and prepare for the competition in ideal conditions,” she says. “I am incredibly grateful to them all.”
