By GERARD WELLBROCK
Hays Post
Jim Mall was encouraged by his kids to join SouthWind CrossFit six or seven years ago. When he did, he never thought he would be one of the top competitors in the world at his age group — but that’s exactly what happened.
The 62-year-old Mall recently finished 80th in the men’s 60 and older division of the CrossFit Games.
“Every day, we wanted to be around our children and grandchildren, so we just went to the gym because that’s where they were at.” Mall said.
CrossFit has been a family affair for Mall and his wife, Sue. His kids, Tucker and Jill, were already coaches and later his youngest daughter Maddy joined them.
CrossFit is a form of high-intensity interval training with strength and conditioning workouts made up of functional movements performed at a high-intensity level.
Once a year, CrossFit puts on a competition for its members throughout the world, who range from ages 14 through 60-plus.
The games are broken down into three steps. The first is The Open — a five-week competition that starts in October and has members completing workouts sent out by the CrossFit corporation. Those who finish in the top 200 advance to the Online Qualifying round where competitors have five days to complete six workouts. The top 10 of each age group then advance out of that to the CrossFit Games which are scheduled for August in Madison, Wis.
Mall was close to advancing out of the first round when he first started competing in the 55-59 age group.
“I started competing in the open when I think (I was) 57 or 58. I finished 224th and I’m thinking, 'I was so close, it can’t be that hard to move up 24 spots,' ” Mall said.
After devoting more time and effort into his training for the next year’s competition, he only moved up 12 spots. He joked that all changed when he moved to the 60-and-older age group.
“Fortunately for me, there are not very many people in my competition, I’m only competing against three or four thousand people, so it’s easier to qualify for these things because there’s not that many people our age that do CrossFit,” Mall said.
This is the third straight year Mall has advanced to the second round in the older age division. He finished 86th in 2018 and 142nd in 2019.
