The final day of the 2024 Rogue Invitational at P&J Live in Aberdeen, Scotland, proved to be the real moving day.
- Athletes on both sides of the competition were out for blood and put on a show for the fans.
Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr came into the final day 55 points ahead of Laura Horvath. Jeffrey Adler was in a solid first place ahead of Ricky Garard and Dallin Pepper. The first event involved one of the more difficult implements — the horizontal pegboard traverse.
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Athletes then moved into a three-round gymnastics piece and finished the weekend in a very Rogue Invitational way with a sandbag-clean ladder.
The weekend was full of excitement as athletes pushed their limits, tested new movements, and competed alongside some of the best in the world.
Event 7: Gondola
The event featured the unique implementation of the pegboard traverse, paired with GHD sit-ups and the Ski Erg. Grip fatigue was ultimately the separator in this workout for both sides of the competition.
- Athletes on the field were seen taking big breaks towards the end of the workout to ensure they wouldn’t fail the pegboard traverse, while some (very few) proved to be no problem.
Event 7: Gondola
For time:
- 1 peg board
- 60/48 calorie SkiErg
- 60 GHD
- 1 peg board
- 40/32 calorie SkiErg
- 40 GHD
- 1 peg board
- 20/16 calorie SkiErg
- 20 GHD
- 1 peg board
The Women
As Sean Woodland put it, Horvath put on a clinic during Event 7.
Her climbing background paid off, as the pegboard traverse proved to be no issue for the Hungarian star, while other women competitors struggled to get through the horizontal pegboard.
- Horvath went unbroken across all sets of her pegboard traverse, winning the event by a landslide with a time of 13:34.65.
Toomey-Orr trailed Horvath the entire event, but Horvath ran away with it in the third round. The G.O.A.T. ended up taking second place at 14:38.23.
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- “Have you tried climbing?” Horvath said during the post-event interview. “It’s all in the forearm and the pegboard is pretty much in the forearm so I don’t know, I just feel comfortable hanging from stuff.”
Alex Gazan, who came into the final day in sixth place, picked up 90 points on Event 7. She took third place in the event and was one of five women to finish in the final heat.
The Men
Similar to the women’s side, the pegboard traverse was a make-or-break movement throughout the workout. Athletes struggled to get across the pegboard from the start. Jonne Koski took the first heat with a time of 15:03.83.
Brent Fikowski came into the final day on the outside looking in, but his pegboard traverse technique proved to be a difference-maker.
- “The Professor” got his first event win of the competition with a time of 13:30.49.
Jay Crouch took second and Jayson Hopper took third — both over a minute more than Fikowski.
However, Fikowski’s performance on Event 7 stole the show. He put on a clinic during his last competition before retirement.
Fikowski said he’d been practicing the peg board before the event, and clearly, it paid off.
- “If I had $1 for every weird thing I’ve been practicing over the years, I guess I have enough to retire,” Fikowski said with a chuckle during his post-event interview.
Event 8: Tightrope
Event 8 brought on a combination of grip-heavy movements and gymnastic capacity.
- The three-round workout started with heavy rope double-unders, then heavy dumbbell overhead walking lunges and handstand walking.
Event 8: Tight Rope
3 rounds for time:
- 100 heavy rope double-unders
- 50-foot single-arm Cyr Bell overhead walking lunge, 100/70-pounds
- 100-foot handstand walk
The Women
Event 8 was all about consistency and Horvath and Toomey-Orr were again in a battle for first from the start of the event, but Horvath gained a big lead on the back half of the workout.
- Horvath took the event win, finishing in 8:28.45. Toomey-Orr came in second with a time of 9:23.53.
Both known for being good on their hands, Brooke Wells and Danielle Brandon finished in third and fourth, respectively.
- Most athletes chose to do the handstand walking unbroken or mostly unbroken, turning in a half pirouette at the midway point, which proved to be beneficial.
The Men
Event 8 on the men’s side was a fun battle for first between Fikowski, Jay Crouch, and Justin Medeiros.
Similar to the women’s side of the competition, it came down to the athletes’ ability to stay consistent on the handstand walk.
- James Sprague set a fast time of 8:31.70 in the first heat and ultimately took fourth in the event.
While the camera was on the battle between Crouch and Fikowski for the majority of the event, Medeiros took the event win at 8:25.76. Crouch came in second, while Sprague came in third.
- Fikowski took fourth place and was neck-and-neck with Crouch until the handstand walk when Crouch started to pull away. The heavy rope didn’t seem to deter any athletes from pushing on the walking lunges. It all came down to the athletes’ ability to move fast on their hands.
Event 9: The Excavator
The final event of the weekend was a sandbag clean ladder where athletes had to toe the line between moving quickly but not quite reaching failure.
The sandbags started at 150 pounds for the men and 125 pounds for the women.
Event 9: The Excavator
For time:
- 15 sandbag clean, 150/125 pounds
- 10 sandbag clean, 200/150 pounds
- 5 sandbag clean, 225/175 pounds
The Women
Speegle started in first place, with Toomey-Orr and Horvath not far behind. But as the sandbags went up in weight, Toomey-Orr started to push the pace, taking the event win with a time of 4:13.28.
- Toomey-Orr’s dominant performance won her the top spot as the 2024 Rogue Invitational women’s winner.
Loewen started the day in fifth place but had a hard-fought last day and landed herself on the podium. Speegle ended up taking second in the event, and Loewen took third.
- Horvath finished the event in fourth place and ended up second place overall after a long weekend battling it out with the G.O.A.T.
The Men
On the men’s side of the competition, the final heat of athletes started out going rep for rep.
But as the sandbags went up in weight the athletes started to spread out a bit. Hopper, Koski, and Pepper were all within a rep of one another.
- Hopper stayed aggressive and pulled ahead on the last sandbag weight. He ended up taking the event win with a time of 3:08.81 and securing himself a spot on the podium.
Fikowski’s last day ended up being his best day.
He took third place in the event and ended up in second place overall—a stellar performance for his last elite individual competition.
- “It’s a privilege and honor in my life to share the floor with them without a doubt,” Fikowski said during a post-event interview, acknowledging his competitors.
Featured image: Seb Vallejo, @vallejo_media_ / Instagram
