Who will be the Fittest in the Namib

CrossFit Swakopmund & CrossFit Skeleton Coast in conjunction with Connect People to People host the fourth annual “Fittest in the Namib” competition powered by First National Bank (FNB) in Swakopmund on 16 and 17 December 2022.

The countdown to the event has begun and CrossFit boxes from all over the country are training intensively for the two-day event. While the first day takes place at the Mole, the second day of the competition sees athletes move to the Sport Club Swakopmund (SFC) where the final clash for the title will be battled out.

Spanning two days, participants teaming up in same-sex teams of two will go head-to-head in six different CrossFit workouts known as WODs. A whopping 100 teams will be in action at this year’s event. The winning team will walk away with the prestigious title of Fittest in the Namib for 2022. There are also many other prizes up for grabs. The event caters for the whole family with delicious food stalls and a cash bar to stay refreshed under the Namibian summer sun.

Through continued support to the CrossFit community, FNB Namibia came on board as the title sponsor for this year’s contest, while silver and gold sponsors who signed up for the WOD include DeoPharma, Seawork Fish Processors, Seawork Cares and Bachmus Oil.

There will also be a live stream of the event this year so that viewers all over the world can see what the competition is about. The organisers are is extremely excited to host the CrossFit community, holidaymakers, supporters and fans where the desert meets the ocean in one of the most beautiful tourist destinations in the world. Everyone is invited to come in numbers to watch and support as the fittest in the Namib battle it out.

Last year, the event was a tremendous success with 83 teams competing from all over Namibia as well as South Africa. The 2-person, 2-day event took place at the Mole and at the Vineta athletics stadium. The first day of action saw athletes competing in two different workouts. The first two workouts assessed the athletes’ endurance and strength. WOD 1: The Shongololo, was a 1-hour workout where the athletes had to run 5km out and back and thereafter swim 500m in the ocean. Both athletes had to complete the race. The second workout was 25 minutes (WOD 2: Mad Max) on the beach and in the water, where athletes had to do loops of kayaking and two different combinations of kettlebell movements.

The second day was hosted at the Vineta stadium and athletes competed in three different workouts where only ten teams of each division qualified to compete in the final WOD. The first workout was a speed workout. The athletes had to complete 4 minutes of sprints, rope climbs and thrusters followed by another 4 minutes consisting of a combination of clean, front squats and shoulder-to-overhead movements in increments of a certain number of repetitions. The team with the most repetitions won. For the second workout, the athletes had to do a series of repetitions over 12 minutes. The weight of the snatch ladder increased every minute by a certain amount. The last workout before the final was “Love and Marriage.” This workout was 16 minutes long and the athletes had to complete a combination of running, deadlifts, wall balls, box jumps, double unders, goblet squats and burpees over the bar.



The podium results for the Fittest in the Namib 2021 were:

RX Division

Men:

1. Team Commit Elite: Damian Burns & Jaco Britz (CrossFit Commit)

2. Team Resurgence: Francois van Zyl & Roland Schorkopf (CrossFit Tsumeb)

3. Team Pin is Uit: Volker Hansen & Zaid Ely (CrossFit Swakopmund)



Ladies:

1. Team Commit Rx: Lize Burns & Mariska Smit (CrossFit Commit)

2. Team Iron Maidens: Angelique Connoway & Elzke de Goede (CrossFit Damascus)

3. Team Phineas & Ferb: Griet-Marie Coetzee & Lezaan Groenewald (CrossFit Tsumeb)



Scaled Division

Men:

1. Team The Bazingas: Jan Greyling & Steven Graaff (CrossFit Bazinga)

2. Team Breaking Bad: Andre Huisman (CrossFit Windhoek) & Jaco van Heerden (CrossFit Damascus)

3. Team Tuin Dwergies: Ian Malan & Siegfried Potgieter (Grootfontein Gym)



Ladies:

1. Team A&M: Anika Steinmetz & Maike Lubbert (The Training Shack)

2. Team Rum & Raspberry #R&R: Larissa Gouws & Lume van Tonder (CrossFit Ground Zero)

3. Team Wing It: Jackie Coetzee & Victoria Kotze (CrossFit Tsumeb)



Masters Division

Men:

1. Team Chalk Me Dirty: Patrick de Goede & Bruce Heyns (CrossFit Damascus)

2. Team Age ain’t nothing but a number: Gerhard Snyders & John Feris (Skeleton Coast CrossFit)

3. Team Young Guns: Stanley Kotze & Neels van den Merwe (CrossFit Tsumeb)



Ladies:

1. Team Damascus Boxer Moms: Michelle Pilzer (CrossFit Damascus)

2. Team Damascus Divas: Katrina Simeon & Claudia Dennis (CrossFit Damascus)

3. Team Arnie’s Angels: Alethea Borman (CrossFit Swakopmund) & Marta Bormioli (CrossFit Damascus)