Compared to most of us, Hannah Granger makes handstand walking, rope climbs and lifting heavy weights look easy and her efforts have paid off with a place at the CrossFit Games in California next month.
The 17-year-old Waimea College student was “stoked” when she finished eighth in the world in the online semifinals for her age group. A couple of weeks ago she backed that up with a fourth-place finish at another competition in Brisbane.
Now, from a small gym tucked away in an industrial area of Richmond, she is preparing for the world stage, where athletes must be ready for anything. Events can include heavy lifts, gymnastics movements and high-intensity endurance workouts, designed to test all-round fitness.
Hannah followed a friend into the sport three years ago and was immediately hooked. She went on to win the national title in the 14-15 age group and hasn’t looked back.
Unsurprisingly, she is highly competitive and played netball and volleyball before concentrating on CrossFit.
“Moving from teams to an individual sport was very important for me, because this is all on me. And I love how it is so different. Every workout is different and it’s really easy to come to the gym and train because there’s always something to improve on.”
She describes CrossFit as functional fitness, with programmes designed to help in everyday life and she says it has done wonders for her strength and fitness.
Between gym classes and individual workouts at Tasman Bay CrossFit, running and swimming, she has a busy weekly schedule and still manages to fit waitressing into her weekends.
“I have such a tightly packed schedule that it’s hard to prioritise everything. I try to have a protein-rich diet and want to track nutrition more next year to see what difference it makes.”
Next year she plans to coach CrossFit, train full-time and compete internationally. Only the top 20 athletes in each age group qualify for the CrossFit Games in California and her long-term goal is to earn a place in the open division.
In the meantime, she is in fundraising mode for California, with a banquet dinner at Grape Escape, where she works as a waitress, helping to fund her trip.
