Rotorua's Bayley Martin heading to the CrossFit world games after placing second behind Australian Ricky Garard. Photo / Supplied
Rotorua's Bayley Martin heading to the CrossFit world games after placing second behind Australian Ricky Garard. Photo / Supplied
Rotorua CrossFit champion Bayley Martin is set to compete for the title of “fittest man on earth” in August after qualifying in a CrossFit semifinal in Queensland last month.
Martin who is 24, will head to Fort Worth, Texas representing New Zealand from August 8 to 11.
Placing second inthe Torian Pro Oceania semifinal in Queensland on Sunday, May 26, he qualified with a score of 567 points, just behind winner Australian Ricky Garard with 579 points.
“I’m very happy with how i performed. I think I executed what I needed to over the weekend to keep myself in contention for winning the Torian pro.
“Even though I didn’t, I think I played my cards pretty well,” Martin said.
The sixth and final event of the semifinal competition had a time cap of six minutes and included a 30-calorie Echo bike round, 15 muscle ups and 72-foot dumbbell walking lunges. Martin completed it in 2:45.90 and Garard finished in 2:38.76.
Martin said the most challenging workout was running during the first event.
“It was a little bit longer and when I pair running with a barbell movement, it normally beats me up a little more than just a straight run.”
Champion CrossFit World Games couple Marnie Sykes and Bayley Martin are off to compete in the world finals in August.
In the sixth and final leg of the semifinal competition Martin said he almost dropped the dumbbells about “10 seconds” out from the finish line, “but I didn’t.
“I kind of had to slow my rhythm down in my lunge, I came very close to dropping them,” he said.
Marnie Sykes, Martin’s partner, is from Hawke’s Bay. The CrossFit couple have just moved to Queensland together. Sykes will also compete at the CrossFit world championship with her team CrossFit Torian Mayhem [AUS], placing second with a total of 476 points in the team category.
Riley Martin, Bayley’s younger brother placed in the top 20 fittest men’s division, finishing with an overall score of 307.
Looking to Fort Worth Bayley said
he was aiming for a top-five placing.
“I would like to be able to compete and be in the race for, like a top-five finish like I was at the semis, you’re in the mix with everyone and you’re not like left behind,” Martin said.
For others training in the Rotorua CrossFit scene, Martin’s advice was “work hard and you never know what can happen”.
Martin said he was looking forward to meeting up with his US-based coach Kiefer Lammi who trained him online and through Instagram.
“My coach lives in America and I haven’t seen him since the games last year, so it would be good to catch up with him and have him there during a competition,” Martin said.
The Torian Pro is not the Martin brothers’ first foray into the competitive fitness scene.
The boys travelled to Madison, Wisconsin, in 2017 to compete at the CrossFit games, after qualifying in the top 20 athletes in each of their age groups.
Polly Playle, who owns the CrossFit Rotorua gym with her husband George, said it was really cool to see young Rotorua athletes coming through the ranks.
She said Bayley and Riley started CrossFit to complement their rugby and to keep them fit in the off-season so to see them both develop into competitive, full-time athletes was motivating.
“Seeing two brothers come out of the same town in a sport that’s hard to make it in does make it feel like it’s not so out of reach,” Playle said.
“I don’t know if it’s a generational thing where we’ve grown up to believe that you can’t do big things... but seeing them do so and knowing they’ve just trained out of the garage at home like, you don’t need the big flash gyms.”
Playle said Lauren Martin has done CrossFit competitions with her 14-year-old daughter in Rotorua.
Ross Martin, Bayley and Riley’s father, was called into the New Zealand Sevens rugby squad for the World Series in 2002 and was also a local CrossFit champion.
