Athletes slam crossfit blunder

CrossFit star Ruth Anderson-Horrell says the sports event, which was canned before its semifinal and final rounds on Sunday, was a "black mark" against organisers.

A top crossfit athlete says a Hawke's Bay event which ended prematurely and without a winner was a "black mark for the organisers".

Judgement Day HB, billed as one of the country's biggest crossfit events, drew athletes from throughout the country to Hastings at the weekend.

But the three-day affair at Hastings Sports Centre was canned before its semifinal and final rounds on Sunday, after organisers revealed they didn't know where competitors stood on the leaderboard.

New Zealand CrossFit star Ruth Anderson-Horrell, who has competed in the World Reebok CrossFit Games, said she was disappointed with the blunder, having travelled from Invercargill to compete.

"I travelled a long way to be there ... I'm sure the organisers did all they could to run the event, but for sure it was disappointing." She said Hawke's Bay was "a cool place to visit, and it has quite a strong crossfit community".

But the Judgement Day event was "probably tainted".

"It's going to be a black mark for the organisers. It would be pretty hard for the organisers to run another event and have people come to it. I think it would be unlikely there would be another Judgement Day - it would be a new event run by other people."

Judgement Day's entry fee was $110 plus an online booking fee. Cash prizes for the top men's and women's divisions were $3000 for 1st place, $2000 for 2nd place and $1000 for 3rd place.

Hawke's Bay crossfit athlete Kevin Manuel said a lot of the competitors who had come to the region for the event had "very high standards".

"We didn't find out any results. It was extremely disappointing how it ended.

"I feel more sorry for the people that travelled from out of town and spent the money on travel and accommodation."

But event organiser Jeanette Cooper said last night: "Athletes will receive the full results."

"We have a winner, we have results and the prize money will be paid."

The scores were not lost but had been "calculated incorrectly" by a phone app.

"Our main sponsor had a [phone] app he wanted us to use but the app was not compatible with the scoring system of our event."

She intended to send out the results to competitors via email and the cash prizes would also be paid in full.

About 220 people had competed and at least 90 per cent of them had come from outside the region.

The weekend was designed to showcase Hawke's Bay, with parts of the event held on Te Mata Peak and at Hastings' Splash Planet.

"A technical glitch has taken away the gloss on what was a really successful weekend. No money has been made from this event and everyone's work was all voluntary."

Event manager Henry Heke said he planned to contact all the athletes personally following the error.