Port Elizabeth CrossFit athletes Dave Levey and Eva Thornton have vowed to continue working towards future CrossFit competitions as long as their bodies will allow them to.
The pair, who returned from the 2018 Reebok Games staged in Madison, Wisconsin, at the beginning of August, achieved some of their best results at the event, with a first and third place in their respective age groups.
Thornton was crowned the “Fittest on Earth” in the women’s 50-54 category after obtaining a total of 678 points from her nine events, including three first-placed event finishes and two personal bests.
Levey claimed the bronze medal in the men’s 40-44 age category after an accumulation of 658 points, including two first-placed event finishes from the 11 events in which he competed.
Chatting to the Weekend Post earlier this week from the CrossFit Algoa box, Thornton said: “The competition was awesome, and tough. I was competing against the top 20 women in the world in my age group, so they were pretty strong. The results were just the cherry on top. I can almost say I had the perfect competition.”
On his performance, Levey said: “It was a good competition for me, made one or two mistakes I would not have liked to make, but that’s competition. All the guys were tough competition, so if you make a mistake, it could be to your disadvantage in the events.”
Thornton said she had been in with a shot of gaining at least a podium position, but had not expected to win the competition outright.
“I would say the goal was to be on the podium, but to get the first place was very special, because it never fell into my lap. I really had to fight for this one, an example being in the squat clean event where I came 15th.
“Luckily I was able to make it up during the week, and I only really got there on the last day.”
Training for all-round fitness at the box, which is what the Games is all about, Levey felt that the would get better going into the competition.
“After the age-group qualifier, where Eva placed second, I said, and I will keep saying it, that the way we train here helps us.
“As we went closer to the Games, we got better and better. At the Open we got a decent result, in the age-group qualifier we got a better result, and at the Games we aimed for our best result. So after the qualifier I knew Eva was in with a shot,” he said.
Levey had set himself three goals going into the Games, with the third being to finish in the top spot.
“My first goal was just to have fun and enjoy the moment, which I also talk to Eva about – it’s a unique opportunity which very few people get to experience.
“My second goal was to give my best in all the workouts, which I think I did. Yes I made mistakes, but the effort I gave was my best effort from an exertion point of view.
“And third was to win, so I’d say my first and second goals were totally accomplished, and my third goal was partly accomplished, albeit third, it is quite close to winning, so I was happy with that.”
Having competed as an individual at the Games in 2012 and 2013, Levey said the competition had grown in leaps and bounds over the years, with everything being done on a much larger scale than when he last attended the event.
Thornton, who competed at the Games in 2015 and 2017, said: “My first competition was in 2015, and compared to that, the level has gone up even in terms of what they ask of you in terms of workouts.
“Back then we competed over three days in seven events compared to this year when we competed over four days doing nine events.”
On the future, both Levey and Thornton said they were competitive individuals, and to compete against the best was what they trained for.
“We train because we love training, but we will always be competitors and we want to also test ourselves against the best in the world, so we will definitely give it another go, as long as the body still allows us,” Thornton said.
Levey added: “We have not retired from competing and that is the highest level to compete at, so I think the goal is still to do it competitively.”