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By Frank Lewis
Working out at the Portsmouth Spartans Kettlebell Club is arguably the most grueling physical training in the area and on Saturday they turned it up a notch with the PSKC Gauntlet Crossfit event which lasted all day. Participants from all over the region converged on the PSKC facility on Third Street for the competition.
“Essentially this is like a fitness festival,” PSKC owner Dale King said. “We have an all-day competition going on. We’ve got 25 four-person teams and they are coming down here to compete in about four different events and we take the top five and put them in the finals and we award the overall winner at the end of the day.”
King said competing for awards was only half the reason people came to participate
“More importantly they’re coming down here to support team ‘Some Assembly Required (SAR),’ which is a group of adaptive athletes who compete in these kinds of competitions all over America,” King said. “and a portion of the proceeds today goes to them.”
Angela Carr is a member of Team SAR, and she is not new to competing on that level.
“Team SAR is a team of adaptive athletes,” Carr said. “On the team we have two that are with prosthetic legs; I’m missing a hand and then we’ve got one with PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder).”
Carr said Team SAR competes all over the country.
“We’ve been to Texas, North Carolina, we go where there’s an adaptive competition,” Carr said. “We want to show everybody that Crossfit is for everybody. If we can do it you can do it.”
King said there is a reason so many people push themselves to their limits at the PSKC.
“They’re looking to test themselves,” King said. “What it comes down to is they get done with sports maybe and they want something to continue having that competitive drive, so this kind of gives them that avenue and that outlet to compete.”
“It’as a gauntlet for sure,” King said.
Reach Frank Lewis at 740-353-3101, ext. 1928, or on Twitter @franklewis.
