Keegan rose to the opportunity at Crossfit Southfit
Day two Keegan started off well – he was placed ninth in the first event, leaving him eleventh overall after three events.
Crossfit has been known as a very popular sporting catogory, known to be tough and very challenging if competing on competition level.
The highest level an athlete can achieve in the sport of fitness is the Crossfit Games.
There are two ways to qualify, being well placed in the Crossfit Open which is a five week world wide online competition or placing first in a sactioned event.
There are 28 sactioned events all over the world.
After a series of online video submissions and qualifications athletes from all over the world get invited to participate and fight for a spot at the games – for Keegan Longueira (28) that opportunity came.
On December 6 to December 8 Keegan participated in the Crossfit Southfit Challenge in Argentina, Buenos Aires.
Over the three days the athletes would be tested in cardiovascular tests such as rowing, swimming and running.
They would also be up against weightlifting challenges and a whole lot of gymnastic stages.
Keegan said “the first day was a bit of a mixed feel for me. I ripped my hands in the first event on the pull ups, perhaps a little bit too excited about the event and forgot to chalk my hands for the pull ups. The second event was swimming and I was placed in the top five. I knew running speed was a weakness for me so I had to pace myself and not chase the other athletes”.
The competition was very tough and in the first round one athlete was taken to hospital after suffer rhabdomyolysis, a breakdown of muscle tissue that releases a damaging protein (myoglobin) into the blood.
The heat mixed with the grueling event can cause athletes to push their bodies too hard and not allow the body to recover in time.
Day two Keegan started off well – he was placed ninth in the first event, leaving him eleventh overall after three events.
Then however it became challenging to hold onto the pace, Keegan fought hard throughout the tree days and managed to finish 26th of 42 athletes.
Keegan said: “I qualified in 36th place originally, so in the end I improved on my placing. However having a taste of this competition, I am not satisfied. The goal of the competition was to soak up the experience and learn as much as possible, in that sence it was a huge success”.
Keegan will now spend his off season working with his coach from Canada to improve on his weaknesses.
He will start building towards the Crossfit Open as well as the qualifying events for next season.
He will continue to run a Functional Fitness Training Facility at HTS Witbank that aims to get people in shape.
Keegan concluded: “When I started this sport, my goal was to qualify for a Crossfit Sactioned Event. That seemed like the pinnacle of the sport for me. Now that I am back home, it is time to set a new bar”.
