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EXCLUSIVE: CrossFit superstar Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr on Rogue Invitational showdown in Aberdeen… and planned Nessie hunt

The Press and Journal spoke to Toomey-Orr - whose seven CrossFit Games wins have earned her the reputation of being the fittest woman ever.

Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr after winning gold at  XXI Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia, in 2018. Image: Shutterstock.
Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr after winning gold at XXI Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia, in 2018. Image: Shutterstock.

Fittest woman of all time Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr is determined to live up to her moniker in Aberdeen this weekend – before going Nessie hunting at Loch Ness.

Toomey-Orr – who won the CrossFit Games for the seventh time earlier this year – heads a stacked field for the Rogue Invitational’s visit to P&J Live from Friday to Sunday.

With the world’s best male and female crossfitters – as well as the planet’s elite strongmen and strongwomen – facing off in the Granite City, the Australian, 31, who was set to arrive in Aberdeen on Tuesday, “absolutely” intends to underline her supremacy.

Speaking to The Press and Journal, Toomey-Orr said: “Every competition matters just as much as the CrossFit Games – your reputation is on the line every time you take the floor and there is that level of pressure where you need to step up and perform.

“That’s the adrenaline (of competition) and what it’s all about.

“For me, as a competitor, I try to thrive off that pressure.”

Toomey-Orr: If competition let’s us see the world, that’s fantastic

Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr weighlifting for Australia at the Commonwealth Games. Image: Shutterstock.

Toomey-Orr touched down in Scotland last week and was initially using CrossFit Glasgow’s facilities to train and “acclimatise” following a near-two-day journey from Down Under.

The Rogue Invitational – organised by gym equipment company Rogue – has been held every year since 2019 and, except for a virtual event during the Covid pandemic in 2020, has only previously taken place in the United States, with the last three editions hosted by the Dell Diamond baseball stadium in Austin, Texas.

Toomey-Orr was delighted with the unexpected news the event was moving to Aberdeen this year, saying: “You always want to trip around and see what the world has to offer, and if we get to do that while doing the competition, that’s fantastic.”

Rogue Invitational looking for ‘workhorse’ as CrossFit elite compete for crown

Toomey-Orr is a strength and fitness icon.

As well as her seven CrossFit Games crowns, she also represented Australia in weighlifting at the 2016 Rio Olympics and won 58kg gold at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in her homeland.

The only occasion in the last eight years Toomey-Orr has not claimed CrossFit Games victory was 2023 – a title won by Hungary’s Laura Horvath after Toomey-Orr missed the event following the birth of her first child, Willow, with husband (and coach) Shane Orr.

While Toomey-Orr also won the women’s title at the first three Rogue Invitationals, her pregnancy meant she was absent from the 2022 edition, before she finished second to Horvath on her comeback in 2023.

Having this year reclaimed her CrossFit Games title from Horvath, she will now look to take back the Rogue Invitational crown in Aberdeen.

Toomey-Orr will need to beat not just the Hungarian, though, but seven other 2024 Games top-10 finishers.

To the uninitiated, CrossFit is a mix of fitness disciplines, including intense cardio, gruelling weightlighting and gymnastics, designed to identify the most well-rounded athletes or “the fittest on Earth”.

However, the specifics tests of workout programming from event to event can influence the results.

On what challenges she is expecting, from both the programming and her rivals, at P&J Live, Toomey-Orr said: “Over the years, it’s (the Rogue Invitational) definitely tailored to an athlete who likes the heavier, more awkward workouts, where it’s like odd objects.

“They’re typically challenging the athletes where it might be a gymnastics movement but they add weight to it.

“Even though you require a lot of intensity, you also require a lot of grit, and I always think of the word ‘workhorse’.”

She added: “Every athlete has the ability to win it and put their best foot forward.

“But, at the end of the day, it comes down to the programming and that’s what’s so awesome and unique about CrossFit – it always keeps you on the edge of your seat and rewards the person who shows up on the day or weekend.”

Toomey-Orr plans to explore Aberdeen – and depths of Loch Ness

While Toomey-Orr will be keeping her mind on business in the days ahead, it will be a different story after the Rogue Invitational is over.

Toomey-Orr, husband Shane and their 17-month-old daughter plan to spend some post-event down-time making the most of their first visit to Scotland, exploring Aberdeen, as well as searching for a well-known Highland resident…

She said: “I’ve got to focus and put my head down until the Rogue Invitational is over.

“If I ever get an opportunity, for sure I like to meet the community or anybody who wants to have a chat or get a photo and stuff.

“During competition, I pretty much lock it down and there’s no appearances, because I’m focusing on my recovery if I’m not competing.

“Shane has a bit of an itinerary, so we’re spending about another week or so (in Scotland) afterwards, which should be a lot of fun.

“I think to be going to have a look at the Old Course at St Andrews and we’re definitely going to try to find the Loch Ness Monster.

Urquhart Castle on the shore of Loch Ness.
Urquhart Castle on the shore of Loch Ness. Image: DC Thomson.

“We’re also going to check out Aberdeen.

“So there will be lot of great things.

“We’ll just kind of be touring around and seeing where the wind blows us really.

“It took us 40 hours to get here – so we want to make the most of it!”

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