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Military Games: Training Room Athletes Compete Across Scaled and Rx Categories
This past weekend, the Luqa Barracks hosted an intense and exciting series of military-style fitness events from April 25th to April 27th, drawing athletes from various team across the island. Training Room athletes showcased their dedication and strength, with 12 members participating in a range of challenging competitions.
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The weekend kicked off on Friday night with a running event, followed by three events on Saturday and two more on Sunday. Let’s dive into the remarkable performances of the Training Room athletes across different categories.
Scaled Category
Team Surf and Turf, consisting of TR members Richard D'Aguiar, Mikhail Schembri, and Naomi Galea, finished the weekend in 12th place overall. Their best finish came in the Lift as One event, where they collectively achieved a 210kg snatch total, earning them 6th place. The team's synergy and skill were evident throughout the competition, as they battled through the tough events.
Team Bre Ma Mi, made up of TR athletes Michaela Camilleri and Brenton Frendo, along with Mauro Desira, secured 27th place overall. Their standout performance came in Under Over: Battle Line (Workout 5), where they finished in 18th place. Despite the tough competition, the team remained resilient and displayed their strength and endurance in each challenge.
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RX Category Success
Natasha Fenech, an athlete and new coach at Training Room, led her team, TR15, to an impressive 7th place finish in the RX category. Natasha's team excelled in multiple events, with their best finishes being in Unbroken Unity (Event 2) and Operation Endgame (Event 6), where they placed 5th overall in both. Natasha's leadership and performance were key to her team's strong showing.
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Not far behind, Clive Cassar, another athlete and coach at Training Room, assisted his team, Suzi Convinced, to 8th place overall. Despite a last-minute change due to one of their teammates falling ill, Clive’s team pushed through and secured a top 5 finish in the first event, Commando Dash. Clive also had an exceptional individual performance, lifting 108kg in the snatch event, one of the highest weights in the RX men's category.
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Other notable RX category teams included Fatness and TR Avengers, who finished 15th and 16th, respectively. Fatness, consisting of TR coach Corey Leighton, athlete Anton Micallef, and Oriane Bouchou, had an impressive 4th place finish in the Lift as One event where Anton Micallef had the biggest Snatch lift in all the competition with 120kg. This was a significant debut for Anton Micallef, who transitioned from in-house competitions to RX, marking a notable achievement in his competitive journey.
TR Avengers, made up of TR coaches Yazmin Stevens, Dimitrije Avramovic, and athlete Jonathan Sant, had a rough start due to one of their members feeling unwell. However, they recovered and delivered some powerful performances, especially in the Lift as One event, where they shared the top score of 270kg in the snatch event with Team Bajd u Figolli from The PIT. Jonathan Sant, in his RX debut after years of competing at the intermediate level, helped push the team to the finish.
A Closer Look at the Workouts
The competition featured a diverse set of workouts, each designed to challenge the athletes’ endurance, strength, and skill.
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Workout 1 – Commando Dash: The weekend kicked off with a running event where athletes had to complete two rounds of one lap loaded and two laps unloaded, carrying odd objects like a dumbbell, kettlebell, or weighted backpack. The challenge tested the athletes' strategic thinking and stamina as each team member decided what to carry for the loaded run.
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Workout 2 – Unbroken Unity: This event required athletes to complete a set of pull-ups or chest-to-bar pull-ups (depending on their category), followed by air squats and synchro burpees over the line. This high-intensity workout tested the athletes' upper body strength, coordination, and ability to work together in a team environment.
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Workout 3 – Lift as One: A lifting event where athletes had to find their max snatch within 12 minutes. This event proved crucial in determining the standings, and many of the Training Room athletes shone in their lifts, including Team Surf and Turf’s 6th place finish with a combined 210kg total.
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Workout 4 – Synchro Stronghold: This interval-based workout utilized kettlebells and focused on coordination, timing, and strength under pressure, requiring athletes to work in perfect synchronicity.
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Workout 5 – Under Over: Battle Line: A challenging relay-style event where athletes alternated between performing double unders, box jump overs, crossovers, box step overs, single unders, and burpee crawl overs. This was a test of endurance, agility, and team coordination.
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Workout 6 – Operation Endgame: Nicknamed "everything but the kitchen sink" by the teams, this event saw athletes performing a mix of barbell and gymnastics movements in an 18-minute time-capped workout. It was a true test of all-around fitness and mental fortitude.
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