Double Trouble: Crossfit athletes compete at Te Arawa pairs competition

Athletes of all fitness levels and abilities tested themselves against their peers during the Te Arawa Double Trouble Crossfit pairs competition.

The annual event, held at Crossfit Te Arawa at the Rotorua Racecourse, was held for the third time on Saturday and, with 65 mixed-gender pairs entered, it was the biggest edition yet.

Athletes completed workouts in pairs to find the fittest in four different categories; Rx (the top division), scaled, beginners and masters (40+).

The workouts included a wide range of exercises, including weightlifting, cardio, gymnastics and plyometrics.

In the Rx division it was Crossfit Whakatāne's Lewis Jones and Coren Humphries who came out on top, Robin Joyce and Janine Lowe were second and Carl Holman and Chivon O'Neill were third.

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Organiser Willy Taite said the positive feedback he had received was overwhelming.

"I randomly had, from at least 10 to 20 people, I'd be having a conversation with someone and they'd come up and grab me. I'd think something bad had happened but they just wanted to express how much they enjoyed the day and how grateful they were."

During the competition, judges were encouraged to be flexible. If someone clearly couldn't do a particular movement, their judge would give them a scaled option. Taite said that was all part of the focus of the competition which was to give a wide range of people the opportunity to compete without the fear of failure.

Taite said the atmosphere throughout the competition was supportive and one of the highlights was seeing athletes who competed last year return to compete in a higher division.

"In the briefing I always start by saying 'it's all good to be competitive but don't be so competitive that you turn into a bit of a dick. I challenge you all to try to meet three new people today and find out something about them that's not to do with crossfit.

"I also mention there are a lot of people here who are the only team from their box, so I say to make sure you get in behind those guys because they're going to need that today.

"It was really cool. The love people gave the people that finished last was amazing. It's so magic and those people walk off the floor feeling 10 feet tall. They say the people finishing last are just important as those finishing first and that's so true."

He said having more entries than in previous years brought some new challenges, but overall it was a good day.

"There were some new dynamics but considering we ran the whole thing completely in our own gym with all our own equipment, I think we handled it really well. We had to be very clever with the placements to make sure we weren't running too late at night.

"We definitely had some really good Rx athletes. What I really like about the Rx athletes is they're quite picky with what competitions they do but a lot of them actually came back from last year so that was really cool to see as well because they have highest expectations."