Now 55 years of age, NFC (Northern Football Conference) Hall of Famer Dave St Amour moved on from a storied career on the football field, continuing to showcase his athleticism through Spartan races, later in life, and more recently, a heavy dose of CrossFit Games involvement.
Safe to say that the former teacher and educational administrator knows his body pretty darn well.
At 31 years of age, Sarah (Tessier) Hogue is still grasping the nuances of the development of her body as she springboards from a background in team sports in high-school (basketball and volleyball at Collège Notre-Dame) through to a cardio phase in university that would ultimately lead to completing a marathon and more recently to the lure of the CrossFit Games, much like her gym partner above.
Both members of True North Athletic Centre in Sudbury have qualified for the semi-final stage of the World CrossFit Games, St Amour completing his on-line segment this coming weekend in the comfort of his home facility while Hogue travels to Florida next month (May 18th – 21st), site of the North America East regional semi-finals.
After getting up to the quarter-finals in her past three to four shots at the competition, Hogue finally broke through this year, something she attributes at least in part to the progress that comes with time and age and increased knowledge and wisdom.
“Last year, I had one workout that really hurt me, so that kind of motivated me,” she said. “There was a bit of a weakness there. I’ve been a little bit more dedicated to my training this year. I followed a more structured training program, lots of cardio and was more diligent with my sleep routine, my nutrition.”
“I kind of just tried to round up all of the things that might have limited me last year,” Hogue summarized.
Now eight years into her interest in CrossFit, Hogue was fortunate enough to start her journey from an all-around athletic base that is likely a lot more diversified than most of her fellow competitors.
“I did have a really good cardio base, which helped me when I started,” she explained. “And I am more solidly built, so my strength was not too bad when I started either. It was the gymnastics part that really challenged me. That’s what I have had to work on the most over the years.”
Specifically, the incredible movement forward as one takes one step after the other in terms of climbing the ladder that is the full breadth of CrossFit skills. “I had the raw muscle strength to do a basic pull-up but there was a lack of body awareness to do the more complex skills,” she said.
Ironically, it was very much that very large spectrum of athletic prowess that CrossFit aims to test that provided the initial appeal to Hogue as she neared the end of her post-secondary studies.
“I think it was just the challenge with so many different movements,” she recalled. “It’s hard to master them all. That constant challenge of trying to progress in the sport is what really drew me to it.”
For both Hogue and St Amour, the next step will be similar, albeit in vastly different locales. A few days prior to the actual competition, participants are provided with a detailed listing of the specific physical tests that are to be administered over a three day span. Generally, based on past practices, that might amount to two a day workouts, perhaps five or six sessions in all – though the specifics can be all over the map.
“They want you to be ready for anything and everything,” said Hogue.
Truth is, “everything”, in this particular context, is likely an expanded range from the comfort of the participants more standard workouts. “They can throw things at you that you might not be exposed to in your own gym,” said Hogue. Such is life in the high-rent district of the World CrossFit Games.
“I have been focusing so much on just making it to semi-finals – but now it’s a whole different ball game actually training for the semi-finals.” Sixty women will gather in Florida in May, with the top 12 moving on to the 2023 NOBULL CrossFit Games in Madison (Wisconsin) in August.
“There could be a chance, but I would say that I probably need a couple more years of training to get to that level.”
Those are years that Dave St Amour already features on his resume. He will enter the on-line competition this weekend as the top ranked Canadian in his age group, #19 on a worldwide scale.
“I feel stronger now than I ever was at any age thanks to CrossFit,” said St Amour in a media release issued earlier this week. “It’s a validation of the effort that you put in and shows that you can maintain a high level of fitness at any age. I have the opportunity to place in the top 10 of the best athletes (in his age group) from around the world.”
“This is really a motivational factor.”
