Round 3 of the Hells Playground pairs competition, this round saw a few tough workouts as always, Darren does not disappoint, as always though a great mix of movements and a great workout for all that did them.

The standout workout for me was the fourth WOD, it was a 2014 CrossFit Games workout, you can read about it here a few of the teams did it in about 3 minutes, which was rather frantic, and quite hard to capture! As these rounds have been progressing I too have been changing my photographic style and equipment to keep up with the changes.

The images I took of this comp were by far my best, my legs were sore from the numerous squats I did across the day to get lower and lower angles, and to keep changing positions, I really didn’t think I would have a picture of some one doing a burpee over a bar being my best ever shot I had taken so far, as always capturing of the emotion after a tough WOD has been one of my signature photographs, the burpees over bar images looked CrossFit games worthy, the athletes in them and my photography both stepping up one very big notch.

Great work Darren, you have built a really strong community of athletes who are now coming to your comps to do one more rep. Bring on the final round.

How do you sum up the most amazing CrossFit event you have been to in only a few hundred words? That is my dilemma, a tough one indeed, the Torian Pro 2015 has left me speechless, from the amazing volunteers who spent two days counting, judging, and moving weights so that the athletes could concentrate on their task at hand, the really tough workouts or the fact James, Johno and Mike from CrossFit Torian were all heavily involved in bringing some top level athletes to compete in their first event, they also made it easy for the crowd to follow what was going on, seasoned CrossFitter or every day person, this I felt made the spectators ooooh, ahhh, grit their teeth and will the athletes to do even more amazing things.

The setting for this competition was the new CrossFit Torian a multi purpose Box with a separate section called Brisbane Barbell Club, which is dedicated to Olympic lifting, with some great lifting platforms.

There was a teams event and a singles event both being run over the two days, the teams, made up of two males and two females did three workouts before 11.00am and the singles started at 11.00am and did three workouts as well per day. The level of the athletes was very high, the first workout for the singles saw them doing snatches, two male athletes did 130kg! and made it look as easy as I do 45kg, it truly was a sight to see, Ben Ward a 15 year old male in the team series did a 90kg snatch!!!

There were too many names to mention over two hundred athletes in total!

Most of the workout names made me giggle, there was a funny side to the competition (well it tickled my sense of humor), a workout was called “Deady Long Legs” a workout for time 18/9  12/6  6/3 heavy deadlifts and rope climbs (to 18 foot!), I thought the deady was to do with deadlifts, I was wrong, deady was how your arms and hamstrings felt after! There was also “Helen gets Handsy” and “Pistols at 20 Paces”.

Whilst speaking to the athletes they all agreed, it was a great competition and were all eager to come back next year, I too am looking forward to it!

If you would like to see the results from the event have a look at the results page here, here are the galleries of the event on my Facebook page.

Why is it that so many people do a PB at a competition? Is it because you have a judge watching your technique, or is it because you have your friends there watching, or is it because in the heat of the moment you push yourself just that little bit more, or is it all of the above? What I do know is that at the Hells Playground round 2,the 1RM squat clean WOD saw a lot of the athletes have smiles on their faces that could only mean one thing. A PB!

I am glad I was there to capture their emotions!

I am looking forward to covering the remaining 3 rounds! See you guys there.

7 WOD’s in one day! Who does that to you? Sonja and the guys at CrossFit Desire‘s Duel at Desire 2015 teams competition, that’s who.

But what a great mix of WOD’s they were, from running with a sled to running up a hill, a few strength pieces thrown in and a couple tough chippers! After 7 workouts in one day, running about after them, I too was tired!

For all the results and winners have a look here at the Duel at Desire 2015 teams facebook page.

Below are the galleries for each all of the WOD’s.

9 WOD’s in one day! Who does that to you? Sonja and the guys at CrossFit Desire‘s Duel at Desire 2015 singles competition, that’s who.

But what a great mix of WOD’s they were, from running with a sled to running up a hill, a few strength pieces thrown in and a couple tough chippers! After 9 workouts in one day, running about after them, I too was tired!

For all the results and winners have a look here at the Duel at Desire 2015 singles facebook page.

Below are the galleries for each of the WOD’s I covered, as some were being run concurrently.

I really love shooting at CrossFit SPEED, the light and atmosphere is amazing, its a large but small box. The floorspace is split into two rooms, which makes the room where the competition in so much more intense. Two large grandstands were erected to showcase the atmosphere for the first of four rounds for Hell’s Playground pairs competition.

The WOD’s were tougher than I thought they would be, a great mix of strength aerobic and fitness, a great testament to Darren, Dena and their crew, and more importantly a great test for any CrossFitter, I would one day like to do one of Darren’s comps.. one day.

The competition was split into Scaled, RX and Masters, with male and female divisions. There was a great mix of boxes being represented too, which is great to see.

The results for Hells playground round 1 are here. The series is a best of three, so there is still time to get involved, if you are keen then you can register here.

I am looking forward to covering the remaining 3 rounds! See you guys there.

Here is a wrap up for Justin Cullen.

I have linked my Facebook page post of the images taken at CrossFit Crossaxed while doing the #Cullen a workout in his name. Here are some amazing, funny and inspiring words from Rob Noy, the owner of CrossFit Crossaxed.

And here is a piece written by me about Justin with some help from his friends, posted on WOD Magazines website.

If you are sharing any images or thoughts about Justin, please use the #Cullen and #ele, ELE is short for everyone love everyone, it was Justin’s motto.

What is that ringing in my ear? It’s the lovely sound of the PR bell, that’s what it is, 10 new PR’s were set last night at CrossFit Wired, under the watchful eyes of Mandy Kinzett the owner and head coach, Gavin Carmody and Sarah Hannay, all three of them were also having a go and ringing the bell!

Was asked to come down to the box after meeting Mandy at the Viking Wars comp, she was running a Max Out Friday, basically an open session to work on your lifting, and a lot of work was being done!

It was a great setting, coaches and members lifting side by side, and never too far away to be able to offer a little advice. The highlights for me was seeing the bell ring over and over again, and the faces of the athletes while they were ringing them.