SOPHIE GOES TO TEXAS WITH SUPPORT FROM BARRATT DEVELOPMENTS
A member of the Matt Hampson Foundation team will line up in Texas this month in
a competition to find the world’s fittest adaptive athlete.
After coming through qualifying events as world number one in her category,
Sophie Wilson is going to the United States to compete in the final stages of the Adaptive CrossFit Games.
Her trip is being supported by Barratt Developments, the country’s largest housebuilder and long-time friends of the Matt Hampson Foundation.
Sophie first linked up with the Foundation – which supports and inspires young people after serious injury through sport – as a beneficiary following a spinal injury in 2018 and then joined the team at its Get Busy Living Centre near Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire, originally as Head of Peer Support and now as Head of Operations.
After a competitive warm-up in the Foundation’s own Hambo Throwdown – the UK’s first adaptive fitness event exclusively for wheelchair users – Sophie said: “I was introduced to the sport of crossfit at the Foundation just last summer and I’ve been working with our personal trainer ‘Sutty’ and sports therapist George Thompson at the Centre.
“I thought it would be fun and it worked well for my physical and mental health. I did my first crossfit event last September and entered the Games to see how it would go, to give me some motivation for my training, to stay healthy and eat well, and suddenly I’m going to an event alongside some of the best athletes in the world.
“But I love that challenge. The things that challenge me are the things that excite me the most.
“Thanks to the kind support of Barratt Developments, I’m off to Texas and really looking forward to it.”
David Thomas, Chief Executive of Barratt Developments, said: “We are delighted to be sponsoring Sophie as she competes against the fittest adaptive athletes in the world. She is a great example of what can be achieved if you stay positive and work hard, and we wish her all the best in the competition.”
The Adaptive Crossfit Games By Wheelwod runs over four days (September 19-22) in San Antonio, Texas, testing competitors from all over the world in a series of strength and conditioning workouts. Around 300 athletes are involved, including 30 from the UK, in a format providing fair competition for all categories of participant.
Consecutive days of competition are designed to challenge mental and physical fitness, endurance and strength across a range of functional movement categories, with exercises including weightlifting, ski machine, rowing and bodyweight pull-ups to accumulate an aggregate score and find the winner of the title ’Fittest on Earth’.
Coverage is available via livestream. For more details, see www.wheelwodgames.com
