CrossFit nationals: The search for the fittest in New Zealand

The fittest athletes in New Zealand will converge on Tauranga next weekend for the CrossFit nationals.

The fittest athletes in New Zealand will converge on Tauranga next weekend, competing for prizemoney, bragging rights and a chance to be labelled 'the best' at the country's largest CrossFit games.

576 competitors, split into 96 teams of six, will compete across four categories (scaled, intermediate, RX and masters) over two days, to find the fittest, fastest and strongest.

Competitors will perform a range of functional exercises, incorporating Olympic weight training, gymnastics and cardio, in a bid to stake their claim on the leader board.

In each workout athletes are ranked by either time or the amount of rounds and repetitions completed in a certain time period.

In a bid to find the team with the greatest overall physical capacity, the competitors won't know what exercises they'll be required to perform until on the day.

The event is managed by Dynamo Events with help from Michael Gillum of CrossFit Taurus.

"We run two events, both under the New Zealand nationals banner," said event director Nathan Cox. "The first was an individual event we ran in July at Mystery Creek and this one is a six-person team event.".

"We opened entries back in April and the event sold out in five days. Every gym in the country had a chance to enter a team, and then we opened up the rest of the spaces to gyms to have more than one team. With the individual event, competitors had to qualify, but this was just first in first served."

The teams are all made up of three men and three women, and there is $7000 in prizemoney up for grabs, with the first three teams in each division getting paid.

"The beauty of CrossFit is it's accessible to everyone. We've got the top guys and girls in the country competing as well as people that have been doing CrossFit for maybe six months," said Cox. "Everyone gets to be part of the biggest event in the country, regardless of their level. CrossFit appeals to a lot of people due to the comradery and it's booming at the moment for all ages, levels and abilities and that's shown with the popularity of this event."

"We've got Australia's top athletes - Khan Porter and Mitchell Sinnamon - competing in an invitational team this year," said Cox. "Two guys who have competed at the CrossFit Games in America - essentially the world champs of CrossFit. We're running a competition on social media to find their team mates for the weekend, and think it's a great chance for people to see these guys live and compete against some of the best in the world."

Cox is expecting 'a couple thousand' spectators each day. The Sunday morning workouts will take place at Mount Maunganui beach and the rest will be held at ASB Arena, Bay Park.

Event details
What: Team nationals for CrossFit
When: 21-21 Oct, 8.30am - 5pm
Where: ASB Arena, Bay Park, Tauranga
Cost: $15 per day for spectators, or $25 for two days