Wodapalooza Miami CrossFit competition won by Patrick Vellner and Emma McQuaid despite storm disruption
- The Wodapalooza CrossFit competition was on hold for the final afternoon as bad weather hit Miami, but resumed in the evening
- Patrick Vellner and Emma McQuaid took the US$100,000 prize money
Patrick Vellner won the Wodapalooza men’s division and with it US$100,000 in prize money. Emma McQuaid won the women’s title and took home the same pot.
Vellner had held the lead since day one and came into the final workouts with a 56-point cushion. The Canadian, who has been to seven Games finishing second twice and third twice, was one of the pre-tournament favourites.
Dual national Brit and Irish, McQuaid, 32, was made to work hard for her victory. She sat in second place coming into the final day. Ellie Turner had been in pole position since day one and had a 25 point lead.
Turner, 23, has been to one Games and finished 23rd. So, fans were surprised when she won both events on the opening day.
It seems even Turner was surprised by her own success. She did not know what the prize money was until someone told her.
“It wasn’t even on my radar [to be leading],” she told Morning Chalk Up, a CrossFit Blog, midway through the competition.
But she could not hold her position in the end, and eventually finished sixth overall. McQuaid, who has been to three CrossFit Games and represented Northern Ireland at the Commonwealth Games, moved up to first place just in time.
Wodapalooza ran from January 13 to 16, but bad weather hit on the afternoon of the final day, and the competition was postponed. Around 1pm, the venue shut down, although the organisers promised it was not cancelled and competition resumed around 5pm.
It was a clean-sweep for Canada in the men’s competition, with second and third places going to Alexandre Caron and Samuel Cournoyer. In the women’s event Bethany Shadburne and Arielle Loewen, both from the US, were second and third.
