Gisborne teen in top 10

Tuteari Te Rauna-Lamont. Picture courtesy of Dane and Gina Taingahue

Gisborne crossfit athlete Tuteari Te Rauna-Lamont finished in the top 10 in his age group in the world after competing at the 2017 Reebok Crossfit Games in Madison, Wisconsin (US) this week.

Tuteari placed 10th overall in the 14-15 years boys division and his family could not be more proud.

The games were a gruelling four-day competition, with running, swimming, workouts of the day, weightlifting and an obstacle course among the tasks.

One highlight was Tuteari placing first in the Diane event, a jaw-dropping workout that included a series of handstand-pushups and deadlifts.

Tuteari said the WOD’s (workouts of the day) tested his physical and mental toughness.

One of those workouts was a ‘‘bar fight’’, which included 50 chest-to-bar pull-ups, 40 toe-to-bar pull-ups and 30 weightlifting clean and jerks of a 175lb weight.

“This WOD made me dig deep and work pretty hard. It not only challenged me physically but also mentally, to make sure my technique was sound,” he said.

“The obstacle course was just an all-out hustle to get to the finish line as fast as you could in the time allocated. This was a whole lot of fun for me and I thoroughly enjoyed the ‘O’.

Another “nasty” WOD was the ‘‘vest triplet’’, which saw athletes wear a weighted vest and carry out a 400m run, 24 air jumps and 12 burpee box jump-overs. The boys had to do four rounds of each.

“This WOD put me in the hurtlocker and I think most of the boys would agree with me on that one.”

The games proved to be a good experience for Tuteari, who is “hungry for more next year”.

“With each event I am gaining more experience and taking away lots of learning to add to my future goals,” he said.

Family thrilled with inspirational effortTuteari’s mum Janelle Te Rauna said the whanau were proud of his efforts and hoped that it would inspire other young people.

“It has been a hard slog and we are very proud of him. But this has not only been about him, this has been for all of our whanau and rangatahi (youth) back home, to help them thrive and strive for their goals.”

Although Tuteari was thousands of miles away, he had a staunch sideline of supporters back in New Zealand who were getting up early in the mornings to catch live coverage of his events.

Ms Te Rauna would livestream videos from her Facebook page and said there was plenty of tautoko (support) from his whanau in the comments section.

Tuteari acknowledged all of the support he had received.

“I just want to thank everyone who is sending txts, posting comments on Mum’s live feed, messaging, calling and sending video clips of kind words of encouragement and love. This is what gets me through all of these tough workouts.”

To recap on all of Tuteari’s highlights, head to the Facebook page, ‘‘Tuteari crossfit journey to Reebok Crossfit Games in Madison Wisconsin’’.