A 17-year-old from Johannesburg's West Rand not only outperformed his fellow African competitors, but was also the only Africa Regional athlete to complete a full round.
Open Workout 12.4 proved to be another hard battle for supremacy in the African region. Given that athletes had to try and get through two benchmark workouts, Karen and 30 muscle-ups, as well as 90 double-unders, in just 12 minutes, it was obvious the most well-rounded CrossFit athletes would once again be identified.
A 17-year-old from Krugersdorp in Johannesburg’s West Rand not only outperformed his fellow African competitors, but also achieved a feat only achieved by the leading CrossFitters in the world. Alpheus Ngwenya from BST CrossFit delivered an amazing and surprising result by not only finishing 12.4 in 1st, but also by being the only African regional athlete to complete a full round of the workout. This performance highlights Ngwenya’s abilities as a CrossFit athlete. At just 17, he is a star in the making.
Gian Smit continued his rise up the Leaderboard to tie for 3rd place with Neil Scholtz. David Levey came in 2nd on 12.4 by accumulating just one more rep than Smit and Scholtz. Levey has opened up a potentially unbeatable 20-point gap between himself and 2nd place, 2011 African regional winner Danie du Preez. Scholtz and Jason Smith are tied in 3rd place going into the final workout, with Smith’s younger brother Richard just 6 points behind them in 5th place.
Wilna Appel finally broke the deadlock in the nail-biting battle at the top of the women’s Leaderboard by winning Workout 12.4 with a score of 246. Lorinda van Loggerenberg came in 2nd with her strongest performance of the Open thus far. Appel and van Loggerenberg were the only wmen who managed to complete a muscle-up. Rika Diedericks finished in 3rd, and by doing so conceded two points to overall log leader Appel. Given Diedericks’ large work capacity, she is likely to have completed the wall balls and double-unders, but may not yet be able to perform a muscle-up. Appel and Diedericks have set up an amazing showdown for top honors in Week 5.
With one week to go and many of the typical movements already tested, the athletes are sure to be hoping the final workout will play to their strengths. One’s placing in the Open is sure to have a strong psychological effect going in to the next stage of the competition, so Week 5 is bound to expose the hungriest competitors. After the surprises we’ve had so far we can be certain of one thing– it’s going to be epic.
