Rotorua teens dominate New Zealand Crossfit Nationals

Rotorua's Anja Jennings won the Teen girls' 16-17 division at the New Zealand Crossfit Nationals. Photo / Ben Fraser

On July 20-21, some of the fittest athletes in New Zealand gathered in Cambridge to put their minds and bodies to the test at the New Zealand Crossfit Nationals. Throughout the weekend athletes competed in a range of categories; Scaled, Intermediate, Rx, Teens (14-15 and 16-17) and Masters (40-49, 50+). After two days of workouts, which included weightlifting, gymnastic and aerobic movements, Rotorua teenagers Anja Jennings and Hiko o Te Rangi Curtis showed they might just be destined for a bright future in the sport as they found themselves standing at the top of the podium.

Anja Jennings, 16, and Hiko o Te Rangi Curtis, 15, have established themselves as shining lights on the Rotorua crossfit scene.

On July 20-21, they travelled to Cambridge to take on the best in their age groups from all over New Zealand at the 2019 New Zealand Crossfit Nationals.

Anja finished first in five of eight events to claim first place overall in the Teen Girls' 16-17 division. Hiko won four of his eight events to also claim gold, in the Teen Boys' 14-15 division.

The key to success in crossfit is to be adept at a wide range of disciplines. Anja trains at Crossfit Rotorua and has qualified for the New Zealand Weightlifting Championships later this year. With a background in gymnastics, she is close to the full package.

She said standing on top of the podium after the work she has put in at the gym felt good.

"Basically all the workouts had gymnastics which is my strength so I enjoyed all of them. I had been in Aussie [leading up to nationals] so my training wasn't that intense but it was a de-load week anyway."

While her technique, particularly in weightlifting, is supremely efficient, the main thing holding Anja back now is simply raw strength. While she does plenty of strength training, she and her coaches recognised a greater focus on fuelling her body was required.

For the last two months she has been seeing a nutritionist and is starting to see an improvement.

"It has helped everything. I have more energy in training. I'm eating about four times as many calories as I used to.

"My best snatch was 58kg and now it's 9.5kg heavier than that. My clean and jerk has gone up about 3kg as well."

One of Anja's coaches Nicole Pakau, a trainer at Crossfit Rotorua, said Anja did everything right at nationals.

"She was all round amazing at everything but especially the snatch. With the strength being her weakness then going out on the crossfit floor and showing her weightlifting progress - she even out-snatched some of the Rx females.

We always encourage nutrition, mobility and proper technique with all our athletes and she's nailing all of it.

"The nutrition has been huge. She's put on 2kg of actual muscle. We always encourage nutrition, mobility and proper technique with all our athletes and she's nailing all of it. It's definitely good to see her rewarded with a gold medal."

Pakau said a lack of self-belief had plagued Anja in the past but her mental strength was improving.

"In the last eight months alone she has gotten more confident. Going out on the floor she used to shy away from a heavy barbell or being the centre of attention for being amazing at things she's good at.

"Now she walks out there like she owns the floor."

Anja's focus now switches back to building strength and perfecting her lifts for the National Weightlifting Championships in November.

Meanwhile, Hiko was not available to be interviewed about nationals because he was already on his way to his next big crossfit challenge, the worldwide Crossfit Games in America. He finished in the top 10 in the Teens 14-15 age group in an online qualifier to book his spot against the world's best.

The Crossfit Games are held in Madison, Wisconsin from August 1 to 4.

Rotorua's Hiko o Te Rangi Curtis (left) and Riley Martin are in America for the Crossfit Games. Photo / File