Creek Road Runners are proud to recognize one of its own, CRR Sue Barton, as a world champion!
A longtime triathlete, Barton has recently become involved in the CrossFit craze—billed as the “sport of fitness.” Competing for the team UD CrossFit, the 60-year-old Barton recently bested 635 other women worldwide in the 60-69 age group within the slightly easier “scaled” (as opposed to the “prescribed” or “Rx”) category in the CrossFit Games, held over a five-week period from October 11 to November 8 all over the world in separate CrossFit venues.
The CrossFit Games involved five events (workouts) meant to challenge one’s strength, agility, and stamina within a timed and judge-certified environment. Each workout takes place over the period of a weekend and is announced on a Thursday.
As in a cross-country meet, the lowest score combining five workout places is the winner. Barton’s total of 79 points bettered American women who placed second with 88 points and third with 99 points, respectively. She was tops in the world in the third workout, which certainly gave her a good edge on the title.
Other Creek Road Runners who competed in the Rx open division for the UD CrossFit team, which placed 3,565th worldwide and 10th among teams within the state of Delaware, included CRR Andrew Weber, CRR Barret Michalec, and CRR Anja Leefeldt. Weber, who also certified four of Barton’s five workouts, placed 4th among the 16 male UD CrossFit competitors in the Rx division; Michalec placed 12th. Leefeldt was 10th among the UD CrossFit women in the Rx division.
The five workouts included:
Workout One (Time cap: 15 minutes)
10 rounds for time of:
8 ground-to-overheads, 45 lb.
10 bar-facing burpees
Workout Two (Complete as many rounds as possible in 20 minutes of:)
4 dumbbell thrusters
6 sit-ups
24 single-unders
15-lb. dumbbells
Workout Three (For time; Time cap: 9 min.)
21 deadlifts, 80 lb.
21 hand-release knee push-ups
15 deadlifts, 80 lb.
15 hand-release knee push-ups
9 deadlifts, 80 lb.
9 hand-release knee push-ups
21 deadlifts, 105 lb.
50-ft. bear crawl
15 deadlifts, 105 lb.
50-ft. bear crawl
9 deadlifts, 105 lb.
50-ft. bear crawl
Workout Four (For time; Time cap: 20 min.)
30 box jumps, 16 in.
15 clean and jerks, 35 lb.
30 box jumps, 16 in.
15 clean and jerks, 45 lb.
30 box jumps, 16 in.
10 clean and jerks, 65 lb.
30 medicine-ball step-ups, 14 lb.
10 clean and jerks, 75 lb.
30 medicine-ball step-ups, 14 lb.
5 clean and jerks, 85 lb.
30 medicine-ball step-ups, 14 lb.
5 clean and jerks, 105 lb.
Workout Five (For time, partitioned in any way; Time cap: 20 min.)
40 jumping chest-to-bar pull-ups
80-cal. row
120 wall-ball shots, 10-lb. ball to 8 ft.
Here are Barton’s scores and world ranking among 60-69-yr.-olds in each of the five CrossFit Games competitive workouts (click to see larger view).
Barton is a professor and Extension Specialist in plant and soil sciences at the University of Delaware.
CRR Sam Parsons, shown here giving his genuine thumbs-up to our association while wearing the classic CRR sweatshirt, is a professional runner with Colorado-based Tinman Elite who has been a force to be reckoned with on the track since his high school days at The Tatnall School. In 2018, he became the first Delaware native to break the coveted 4-minute mark in the mile run.
Pretty fast in his own right at age 50, University of Delaware professor and CRR Bill Farquhar has followed his kinesiology and applied physiology research into the realm of a world-class septuagenarian runner.
