UltraFit 2001
May 12-13 Stratford-On-Avon (amended 27 Aug 2001)

Report by Ade CLift, Future Fitness (also check out Hywel's and Will's reports)

This year's Ultra-fit National Cross-training Championships, which was billed as the event to find Britains fittest man and woman, proved to be not just a true test of fitness, but a test of mental aptitude as well. Did it provide the result of Britains fittest man and woman? I personally believe it did.

The results excluding times are:

Mens Open
1. Hywel Davies
2. Andy Evans
3. Keith Marley

Womens Open
1. Sarah Coupe
2. Jenny Russell
3. Michelle Parsons

Mens Masters
1. Phil Talbot
2. John Sherlock

Womens Masters
1. Lesley Murray
2. Maryse Worrallo
3. Angela Bonsal

Ladies Team
1. Team SIS - One on One
2. Combined Effort
3. Babes from hell

Mens Team
1. SIS Club Elmley
2. Team Vydex
3. Team SIS-Future Fitness

The saddest thing about the weekend's event proved to be the judging. Not so much for myself, as I neglected to enter the individual this year (it's better watching!). It was a shame, as the judging proved to be more of a talking point than the fact that Hywel had won an amazing fourth title in a row and that Sarah Coupe had proved to be just as adapt at the Ultra-fit course as she is at the X-Zone.

A personal view of the judging:
Now we all know that the judging at Ultra-fit is strict, and rightly so. This year, though, provided such inconsistency between the judges that it became a lottery for the competitors, i.e., if you were drawn for the final in lane B but qualified in lane A,
the best of luck!

Having spoken to several competitors from lane B, the judging seemed to go as follows:
Competitors were being told that after they had completed 15-20 reps of hips, press-ups and/or abs, that they had in fact completed none at all ('correctly'). So when the competitor thought he or she was on rep number 26, they were often found to be only on number 6. I believe that if a competitor is not completing the reps correctly, they should not be counted, but, they should be told straight away, not wait until they have completed 15 or so.

It was strange that several competitors, who had competed the previous day in lane A to qualify, had suddenly developed appalling technique over night! Obviously their technique had not changed, leaving only the inconsistency between the judges to blame. So I believe that the techniques should have been judged the same in both lanes and preferably strict, not slack, judging in both.

In fact, every competitor in the ladies final who raced in lane A had beaten their competitor in lane B by well over 30 seconds. Sadly, Michelle Parsons, who had qualified fastest on Saturday, unfortunately drew lane B for the final. Michelle was leading on split times once again up until the abs, after which Jenny Russell pulled away and Michelle did well to keep her head and hang on to 3rd place over all.

Which brings me to abs. Now, everybody knows that Jan Beattie has a reputation for 'creaming' everyone on technique and rightly so. Although she seemed a little 'over the top' this year, e.g., penalising people when their thumb slips off their earlobe for one rep due to perspiration I thought was a bit OTT. To be fair though, she was at least consistently OTT with everyone.

I should also say that in the mens event, every competitor in lane B who hit the abs first, came off of the exercise 15+seconds after their lane A opponent, including Hywel. His expression and little shake of the head after abs said it all for me!

Looking at technique on abs (and all other disciplines for that matter) I believe that along with previous Champ Darren Robson, Keith Marley has always had excellent technique. This is something that has been a 'downfall' for him in the past (by his own admittance). However this year was to give Keith his best result so far from lane B! Well done Keith.

Sadly, our team member Adam Horder, who had qualified on Saturday in a brilliant 3rd spot with 15min 27 seconds was made to do 80+ hip flexors and when told that his first 15 reps of press ups hadn't even been counted, Adam walked off in disgust. Thankfully Adam stuck around to perform the second leg of our relay with two great splits of 46secs and 41secs for lats and hips, good on ya mate!

For some strange reason, half way through the mens final, the judges in lane A started being a little more over strict too. Perhaps something had been said, but by this time it was too late.

Interesting also was that with all the strict judging that had gone on in lane B, that one competitor in particular (although many more did the same over the weekend) held on to the top of the runner whilst pretending to adjust the speed. A shame really because he is a good runner and only missed the final by one place (again). This guy had also remarked to one of our teammates that he was going to run at 17+ kph in the team event for Vydex. Presumably he meant one handed whilst holding on with the other! Anyway, he 'bottled it', leaving Andy Evans to do the anchor for Vydex and to be fair Andy did a great job to post the same time as Steve Quick by virtue of an awesome bench press split. This unfortunately relegated us to 3rd place (guess who was in lane B?) Just kidding, well if you can't do abs from fresh, it's a poor job!

So, my overall view is that all the top competitors can get through each of the exercises technique wise, it's just harder to keep form when they are tired. Look at all of the top teams individual performances. No problems with hips, press ups or abs! The judging needs to be as strict in both lanes and competitors need to be told straight away when their reps are not counted i.e. not after the first 15-20 reps.

I thought it was a great weekends racing which saw some battles in all categories, especially the mens Masters which saw John Sherlock just knocked back into second place by Phil Talbot (reminded me of last years finish between Jenny and Tammie Baker).

Ade Clift, Future Fitness