Wilna Appel and Neil Scholtz sit in 1st place after Day 1.
Men
Event 1
1. Neil Scholtz (4.51.00)
2. Christian Oman (4.54.00)
3. Nicholas Bordalo (5.26.00)
The handstand push-ups of this event proved to be too much of a challenge for many of the leading competitors, with several of the top 10 athletes from the Open not completing in the time cap.
2010 Africa Regional winner Neil Scholtz put in a strong comeback performance to win this event ahead of Christian Oman. Nicholas Bordalo in 3rd place is an unknown from new affiliate, CrossFit Vaal.
Event 2
1. Danie du Preez (16:55)
2. Jason Smith (17:01)
3. David Levey (17:03)
Event 2 in the men’s competition proved that in CrossFit, a competition can’t be predicted by the outcome of one event alone, but by a combination of different challenges. It also proved that strength in one workout could mean nothing in the next.
Having finished Event 1 tied 13th, last year’s Africa Regional winner, Danie du Preez, not only won the second event, but was the only athlete in the competition to finish the workout. Like du Preez, FightFit Militia’s Jason Smith also showed a significant improvement between the two events. Smith only finished Event 1 in 17th place, but hit the time cap of Event 2 just one rep short of finishing.
Third place went to Dave Levey after a lackluster start in Event 1. Scholtz finished Event 2 in 4th, thereby consolidating his lead for the day.
Overall Standings
1. Neil Scholtz (5 points)
2. Christian Oman (9 points)
3. Dave Levey (9 points)
Women
Event 1
1. Wilna Appel (09.01.00)
2. Esteven Strauss (09.07.00)
3. Rika Deidericks (09.27.00)
None of the women completed this workout in the time cap. Appel came closest, missing out on just one rep. Her last two repetitions were not counted due to not locking the arms out. The handstand push-ups were expected to slow Diedericks down, despite her moving through the deadlifts easily. Second place went to 18-year-old Estevan Strauss of BST CrossFit.
Event Two
1. Rika Diedericks (14.49.0)
2. Wilna Appel (17.14.0)
3. Estevan Strauss (17.15.0)
Women’s Event 2 saw the emergence of a new kid on the block as Strauss stood her ground alongside Appel and Diedericks. Despite this being her debut year, this school girl from Johannesburg was the only other woman to finish the 10 hang cleans required to carry on the competition, as the demands of Event 2 narrowed the field down to just three athletes.
Event 2 belonged to the more experienced Rika Diedericks. “The rowing was easy and this made it easier for me to finish the lifts because I wasn’t worn out from the demanding row like the other two,” said the former Olympic rower who was the only woman in the region to complete this workout.
Overall Standings
1. Wilna Appel (3 points)
2. Rika Diedericks (4 points)
3. Estevan Strauss (5 points)
Day one ended with one point separating the top three, again indicating just how close this competition is.
Team
Event 1
1. B4C Fitness (08:10:6)
2. Team Cape CrossFit (08:53:7)
3. CrossFit PBM (10:12:0)
Event 1 was B4C Fitness’ to lose after their men, Paul Schultz and Pierre Ferreira, completed the deadlifts unbroken and their ladies stormed through the handstand push-ups. Cape CrossFit was placed fairly closely to B4C until the women, Ellie Hagopian and Lynda Piper-Roche, struggled to complete their last few deadlifts. Much like the individual competition, the handstand push-ups proved to be the task that set the leaders aside.
Event 2
1. B4C Fitness (25.27.0)
2. CrossFit PBM (25:28:0)
3. CrossFit Platinum (25:30:0)
With some of the athletes still licking their wounds after Event 1, Event 2 gave teams a chance to strategise around their strengths to gain lost ground. The biggest hurdle of Event two was the hang clean, demanding strength and technique that appeared to be beyond the reach of the average competitor in the competition.
Heat 1 saw the two Johannesburg teams, B4C and CrossFit Platinum, up against each other for the second time. Andre De Bonis gave Platinum an early lead by finishing the 1,000-meter row ahead of B4C’s Claire Colbeck, but lost ground as he struggled with pistols. Colbeck took the lead, which B4C maintained for the win.
Heat 2 saw Cape CrossFit and PBM take to the arena. Andrew Martin gave Cape CrossFit an early lead finishing the rowing just ahead of head of PBM’s Frederick Englebrecht, but Englebrecht proved slightly stronger on the hang cleans and finished ahead of his rival. Gerhard van der Merwe increased PBM’s gap to give teammate Anneke de Beer just enough time for two reps. Much to the delight of her coach Mark Lubbe, that gave PBM the win and a second place finish on Event Two. “It was the first time Anneke had got that weight up!” said Lubbe.
Overall Standings
1. B4C (2 points)
2. PBM (5 points)
3. Cape CrossFit (6 points)
B4C are the veterans of the team competition, and their experience has them level headed going into the second day. Their lead of three points over PBM in 2nd place may well be unassailable.
