Clean sweep for Bay athletes
NELSON Mandela Bay pair David Levey and Dean Shaw made a memorable debut in the CrossFit Pretoria Throw 2015, winning the competition by 28 points and taking home a R28 000 cash prize.
Levey and Shaw, of CrossFit Algoa, beat 147 athletes from all over South Africa in the event featuring two-man teams.
The two men both work in the strength and conditioning department of the EP Kings rugby team, and Levey is also the owner of CrossFit Algoa.
The competition took place last Saturday and Sunday in Pretoria and involved a wide range of events for the super-fit.
The competition runners-up, Jaco van der Vyfer and Paul Hoffman of CrossFit ECX, are also from Nelson Mandela Bay.
The Pretoria event has been running for four years, and its prize money is among the largest on offer at such competitions in South Africa.
“This is a really big win for us because the best guys in the country were at this event. There were 10 teams in the finals,” Levey said.
“If it wasn’t for NutriTech we would not have not gone to the event. They made it possible for us to get to Pretoria.”
Levey and Shaw began competing in 2012.
Next up for these athletes is the Meridian Regionals of the Reebok CrossFit Games, which take place from May 29 to May 31 in Copenhagen in Denamark.
Top athletes from the Africa and Europe regions advance from the Open to the Meridian Regionals.
At the Copenhagen event, held at the Ballerup Super Arena, participants will compete for five qual- ifying places for the CrossFit Games.
“We recently found out that our team has made it into the Reebok CrossFit Games Team Regionals. Six people take part in this event,” Shaw said.
“Due to finance constraints we are not too sure if we will be able to take part in the event. We are looking for someone who will be kind enough to sponsor our trip.
“Because there are six of us, the costs are six times more. It is not reliant on only one person; it’s reliant on whether all six team members can afford it [to take part in the event].”