Workshop Lead To Compete With The Best

Christchurch Workshop Lead Craig Harrington will be among the world’s best CrossFit athletes when he competes in the adaptive division of the Torian Pro official CrossFit Games Oceania Semi-final Event in Australia in May.

CrossFit is a form of high-intensity interval training, a strength and conditioning workout that is made up of functional movement performed at a high-intensity level.

Craig has been active in competitive sports for most of his life. He has played wheelchair basketball for both Canterbury and the New Zealand squad, competed in martial arts since he was six years old and has a black belt in Kung Fu. He has played ice hockey and water polo, gone white water kayaking, rock climbing, mountain biking and BMX racing with his son.

Eight years ago, he started gym training which led to his studying and achieving qualifications in sports leadership and personal training. While he was at school; he interned at a Crossfit gym and fell in love with the sport. He started to train and coach the sport three years ago.

In 2020 an adaptive division was added to the Crossfit Open which is a worldwide online competition. The top five in this division go on to compete at the in-person Crossfit Games. He achieved 44th in the world in 2020 which gave him the confidence to continue. This year he was invited to compete at the Torian Pro in-person competition in Australia.

This is an able-bodied semi-final elite event with the top 3-5 men and women qualifying for the Crossfit Games in the USA in August.

“This is a professional sport, and I will be around some of the best in the world,” Craig says.

“This year the organisers have created an adaptive division to showcase what we can do on the big stage in front of thousands of spectators and millions more watching online. This is the biggest event on the biggest stage and an absolute dream come true for me,” Craig says.

Craig is also hoping to compete in December’s American WheelWod Games which sees athletes from all over the world battle for the title of fittest adaptive athlete in the world. The games have been running for about 10 years and have a new competition for the Oceania region called “The Oceania Throwdown”.

Craig is asking for the chance to help him compete by purchasing a supporter’s tee.

“Those that know me well know my love of Dragon's. Their power and majesty. The dragon on the Tee is an interpretation of one I drew as a teen which I still have today. The Dragon wound around my limb represents the power of being different, adapting to change, rising to challenge, not quitting when it gets hard. This message on the tee “Fall down 7 times get up 8” is not just for the adaptive community but for everyone. We all have challenges and hardship. It's not how we fall but how we rise that matters,” Craig says.

You can support Craig’s journey to compete at the Torian Pro, Oceania Throwdown later this year and the WheelWOD games in December by ordering a supporter’s tee.

“All profit's will go toward helping turn my dreams into memories. Thank you with all my heart to the team Boxfit Apparel for their support.”