CrossFit: Bay man strives to to make champs

Kevin Manuel completes some crossfit training while three-year-old son Brody replicates. Photo / Paul Taylor

Hawke's Bay CrossFit whiz Kevin Manuel's dream of an appearance at the world championships is more than a flicker.

"That's every CrossFitter's dream," Manuel said before a session at his Havelock North home last night with regular training partner Jaryd Warren.

Manuel, 28, who took up CrossFit four years ago, will get an indication of where he stands in his quest when he takes on many of Australasia's best at the sixth edition of Battle of the Fittest in Auckland from November 7-9. This is the first time the event has been opened up to Aussie competitors.

"I'm expecting at least a couple of Aussies in our 70-strong open men's field. Some of our top Kiwis competed against them in Melbourne last weekend and the competition was pretty even ... it's likely to be just as close in Auckland," the 2011 winner of the event and last year's runner-up, said.

A former Havelock North premier rugby player, Manuel, pointed out a feature of Battle of the Fittest is the fact none of the competitors know what tasks they will face until the start of the competition.

"Sometimes the challenges are leaked, but we just keep putting in the training so we're as prepared as we can be," Manuel said.

A viticulture contractor, he trains up to 14 hours each week. To qualify for the world championships he has to record a top three finish at the May Australia championships. The the postal qualification process, which sorts out the 40 qualifiers for the Aussie champs, begins in February.

Last weekend, Manuel competed in a "Pound for Pound" body weight competition in Hamilton and won the 90kg class category. This weekend, he will tackle a Mount CrossFit-hosted teams event in Mt Maunganui.

"These are ideal blowout events before the Battle of the Fittest. While I've got a couple of niggly injuries, at this stage, I couldn't be happier with my buildup," Manuel said.

While Manuel will be the Bay's best open men's hope in Auckland, Erin Gladstone, is tipped to do the best of the Bay's open women's category entrants.

A daughter of Hawke's Bay multisport dynamo Jeanette Cooper, Gladstone, has a hectic schedule in the buildup to the event as she divides her time between training, running At E's Cafe in Havelock North and training to be a fire fighter.

"It can be a real challenge to fit it all in, especially as I'm now training up to 12 hours a week to ensure I'm at my best come competition time," Gladstone said during a breather at her Rotorua-based fire fighting course.

"Battle of the Fittest is the peak event in New Zealand, everyone who is anyone on the CrossFit scene will be there, the stakes are really high" she added.

Manuel, Warren and Gladstone will be joined by three other Bay competitors in Auckland. They are player-coach of Hawke's Bay's top netball team Otane Force, Annemarie Kupa-Petera, Tim Mackersey and Marcus Dunn.

All six had to complete a qualifying process.