Sneaky Little Athleteses

For roughly three weeks in April, Laura Hughes and Emma McQuaid were required to be in the Athlete Village at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Queensland, Australia.

So, they did what any CrossFit athlete would do: They escaped.

After all, the women were about a month out from competing at the Europe Regional in Berlin, Germany.

“I felt like I shouldn’t be doing it, at the time,” Hughes said with a sly smile after the Triple 3 event on Friday at the Velodrom.

But a grueling three-day competition that includes six events and an opportunity to qualify for the CrossFit Games requires preparation unlike any other.

“Aw, yeah, snuck out every day,” McQuaid said. “Regionals is so important.”

The 28-year-old missed qualifying for the Games the past two years at the Meridian Regional, finishing seventh last year and sixth the year before. She trains at CrossFit Berserk in Belfast, Northern Ireland. She was in 16th place overall after a day of competition at the Europe Regional.

Hughes, meanwhile, finished 15th at the 2015 Meridian Regional and 10th at the 2016 Meridian Regional. The 25-year-old sits in 25th place overall after Day 1 at the Europe Regional.

Despite prioritizing Regionals over the XXI Commonwealth Games, McQuaid said she found her first time competing there “nerve-racking.”

“It’s so big,” she said, wide-eyed. “You’re representing your country.

The Commonwealth Games have happened every four years since 1930, with the exception of 1942 and 1946 because of World War II. This year’s Commonwealth Games included more than 6,600 athletes and team officials from 71 Commonwealth nations and territories.

Both McQuaid and Hughes represented their respective countries in the sport of Olympic weightlifting at the Commonwealth Games. They each competed as part of a four-person team. CrossFit Games champion Tia-Clair Toomey, of Australia, also competed in weightlifting at this year’s Commonwealth Games; she won gold.

Leading up to the event, both Hughes and McQuaid each had to strike a balance with their training so they could perform well at the Commonwealth Games but not at the cost of their Regional rankings.

“It was really a struggle to juggle both of them,” Hughes said of preparing for both competitions.

Still, she earned a bronze medal in the 75-kg (165 lb.) weight class for Wales, with a 91-kg (200 lb.) snatch and a 116-kg (256 lb.) clean and jerk. Despite the earned hardware, Hughes said she prefers snatching for time over lifting 1-rep-maxes in the snatch and clean and jerk.

“I had to do one thing and one thing only,” she explained. “The slower pace can be a lot more challenging.”

At the Commonwealth Games, both Hughes and McQuaid could count their total competition hours on one hand. At Regionals, the experience is starkly different.

“There’s so much more going on here,” Hughes said.

In terms of competing at the Commonwealth Games again, Hughes paused to consider the idea.

“Maybe not so close to Regionals.”

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