Brooke Ah Sam was named Fittest in Northland in her age grade after her performance at a provincial crossfit event in Kerikeri earlier this month, in which she took first place among a field of 16 in the scaled women's division.
Ah Sam, 15, was among a large contingent of Kaitaia athletes who contested various age and ability grades at the Fittest in Northland Face Off crossfit competition hosted by Crossfit Konka in Kerikeri on Sunday, May 11.
Other notable results saw Brooke's Team Infinity stablemate Kelly Lum, also 15, place 10th in the scaled men's division and noted as the youngest competitor there; while Club Physical's Kyla Smith placed ninth in the scaled women's division, also as the youngest competitor in this section at age 14. All three attend Kaitaia College.
Other results by Kaitaia top crossfit enthusiasts included Club Physical's James Lunjevich placing ninth, Stan Day 10th, Marley Maheno 13th and Kurt Lunjevich 15th respectively in the top RX Men's competition. The elite RX women's and men's events at the Face Off were taken out by Jade Younger (of Whangarei) and Dylan Metai (Takapuna but holding Northland heritage) respectively.
Organiser William Arama said the plan was to make the event an annual one to capitalise on the growing popularity of the crossfit movement in the province. He had received plenty of positive feedback from all who had participated in the inaugural tournament and estimated the turnout of nearly 60 athletes was fair reward for the amount of hard work which went in behind the scenes to get a competition of this nature up and running.
