Some of the best athletes in the region did battle for the title of the fittest in Suffolk at the weekend.

East Anglian Daily Times: Action from the Suffolk Games 2017 mixed pairs event. Picture:Action from the Suffolk Games 2017 mixed pairs event. Picture: (Image: Archant)

Around 70 mixed pairs tackled a series of gruelling CrossFit workouts at the Suffolk Games event, held at Inspire Suffolk on Sunday.

CrossFit, known as the sport of fitness, is one of the fastest growing sports on earth. It sees athletes tackle set workouts to see who can finish the fastest or complete the most rounds.

East Anglian Daily Times: Andy Hawes tackles a deadball carry at the Suffolk Games. Picture: NIGEL BROWNAndy Hawes tackles a deadball carry at the Suffolk Games. Picture: NIGEL BROWN (Image: Archant)

On Sunday, competitors were pushed to their limits across four high intensity challenges, with the winners being determined by combined placings in the events.

The Quad Squad team from T800 CrossFit in Eye took top spot, with a duo from A14 CrossFit in Newmarket taking second place, while T800 completed the podium.

East Anglian Daily Times: Tyrone Graham pushes himself at the Suffolk Games. Picture: NIGEL BROWN.Tyrone Graham pushes himself at the Suffolk Games. Picture: NIGEL BROWN. (Image: Archant)

A14 had three more teams in the top ten, with Iceni CrossFit from Colchester taking sixth and squads from Ipswich’s GFP rounding out the top ten.

“It was really good,” said Matt Brennan of GFP, who organised the event along with colleagues from the town’s CrossFit ISC.

East Anglian Daily Times: James Barber and Lauren Beck hoist a deadball. Picture: NIGE BROWN.James Barber and Lauren Beck hoist a deadball. Picture: NIGE BROWN. (Image: Archant)

“We had a good amount of people there, everything ran smoothly and it was a really good competition – the top three were well away, but after that it was close.

“We had three teams in the top ten too, so from a personal point of view that was great.”

East Anglian Daily Times: Danielle Cox in action. Picture:NIGEL BROWN.Danielle Cox in action. Picture:NIGEL BROWN. (Image: Archant)

And while many CrossFit competitions are dominated by the ultrafit, Brennan stressed that he wants to ensure the Suffolk Games are open to all.

“There are good competitions with elite athletes, but we really want to make it accessible to everyone,” he explained. “That’s really important to us – you can compete at whatever level you’re at.

“That’s a key concept to the sport as a whole – people look at some of the workouts and think they could never do it, but I’d say give it a go, it’s all scaled with the individual in mind.”

The sport continues to grow, and next year the Suffolk Games will run three events for the first time – a same sex pairs event on April 22, a teams event for fours on July 7 and the mixed pairs battle on October 14.

Visit www.suffolkgames.co.uk for more information and to enter next year’s events.