Although much of the coverage from this weekend’s Hyrox competition has focused on the return of Hunter McIntyre to the Men’s Pro division, the Pro Women in both Barcelona and Dallas put on an incredible show and we ended up with 2 women in Barcelona and 2 women in Dallas setting times that either got them into the Elite 15 or improved their standings.
We were keen to speak with the two Pro Women winners from each race, Rebecca Mason who took Barcelona and Vivian Tafuto who took Dallas, to see how they felt after such impressive performances at a pivotal point in the season.
Side note: both are fan favourites and we are delighted to see them bumping themselves up in the Elite rankings 🙂
Rebecca Mason – Barcelona Winner
Rebecca Mason is the reigning Hyrox World Champion in the 35-39 division. She is hugely popular within our community due to her bubbly personality, willingness to share workouts and advice, and inspirational performances, made all the more impressive considering she balances her Elite athlete status with being a mother to two young children.
This will be seen by many as Rebecca’s most impressive performance to-date with a time that almost certainly secures her place in the Elite 15 in Manchester.
Here’s our interview with Rebecca shortly after her win in Barcelona:
How was your training going into this event? Anything you changed recently that you feel helped perform so well?
I’m constantly working on being a better runner, unlike many other Hyrox athletes I don’t have a running background nor do I particularly enjoy it! So I’ve really had to work hard over the past year to improve my pace, endurance & speed. Unfortunately this doesn’t happen quickly so it’s the consistency of effort over time that’s now paying off. A more recent change this season is self belief, competing in the elite 15 at Europeans in January was a huge step up & fuelled my fire to be a better athlete, racing next to those amazing ladies is just something else- the bar was raised!
How does it feel to win this event in Barcelona and secure a big PB?
I knew I had to go all in! It was today or never to get a fast time to put me back into the Elite 15 ready for Worlds in May. A win is great but the time/PB was the goal.
Was the Elite 15 the goal for this race? How does it feel to make it in and, very likely, secure a place in the Elite race in Manchester?
It was the ultimate goal, I was definitely racing against the clock & knew I had to go hard to get that position in the elite 15, fingers crossed that it will stick & I will make the elite race in Manchester
(If you told me that in Vegas last year I definitely would not have believed you!) I’m SUPER happy!Any other observations about the race? Your strategy, the course or your competitors?
My strategy is to build pace throughout the race & not to get too hyped up early on. I knew Felicity & Jezebel are very good runners so I had to keep them in my sights for the first few laps knowing I could push faster in the third part of the race. It was also great to see Sam Bilbie & Kate Davey make the step up to Pro both doing incredibly well, the U.K. are really producing some great Hyrox athletes.
The layout was very good today, super easy course to follow, 2 laps is always a favourite, but the roxzone did feel vast, especially the second half of the race. The sleds were rough & after speaking to some of the other athletes they felt the same. The carpet was very tough & I had to take a lot more breaks than I usually do, but you just have to grind on!What’s the plan for you now?
My next race is in Malaga, I’m doing mixed doubles with Stuart Tilley which will be a fun one! I’m volunteering in London so I’m excited to see the event from the other side. Training continues as usual, 10 weeks until the WC, then some time off over the summer.
Anything else you’d like to say?
A big thank you to all the support I have received before & after the race, I absolutely love the community Hyrox has built & it’s the people & friendships that really make it. Thank you to the volunteers as well, without them these events can’t happen, they do an awesome job 🙌
Vivian Tafuto – Dallas Winner
Vivian isn’t on social media as much as some other athletes, but she’s well-known in the Hyrox community for her increasingly impressive performances. If ever you want proof that hard work and intelligent training gets you results, check out Vivian’s early Hyrox scores and compare them to today’s. You’ll see that she has consistently improved from an athlete logging a 1 hour, 26 minutes and 12 seconds time to an Elite Hyrox athlete fighting for a podium spot in the Elite 15 Championship races. Her time this weekend was 1 hour, 5 minutes and 18 seconds. It’s a crazy improvement and it’s exciting to witness her on the competition floor today.
Here’s our interview with Vivian shortly after her win in Dallas:
How was your training going into this event? Anything you changed recently that you feel helped your performance?
So after thanksgiving I got a coach and have really been working on my running! I think it’s helped a lot because all these girls are super fast lol and the last month I’ve been focusing on the wall balls a lot because that’s an area that I’m really behind the top girls so I think that helped today especially with Kris so close!
How does it feel to win this event with such a good level of competition?
Really good, this is actually my first win ever! I’m just really excited about all the time I’ve been dropping and having good girls around me pushes me to be my best and if there weren’t so many legit athletes this wouldn’t be worth doing.
You already have a time in the Elite 15. Did you run this race for fun or training or were you trying to improve your time?
I thought I would be on the border with that time and thank god I raced today or I would be out!
It was a very, very close race. I saw around the rower you began closing in. How do you feel close races like this impact your performance? Is it easier to push yourself or does it pull you from your strategy?
I like to key off of people so I’m always up for a close race. I think depending on how I’m feeling it can be motivating or draining but today I had enough that it was a great push.
Any other observations about the race? Your strategy, the course or your competitors?
I was out a little aggressive lol. I came in and was like hopefully there’s a rookie who will go out fast and I can pace off of them, but nope it was me. I’m really happy I pulled it together towards the back half though I think I raced that perfectly. My only other observation was that sled felt TOUGH
What’s the plan for you now?
I have The GORUCK Games in April but I really just want to train all I can and try to make more improvement before May!