FAYETTEVILLE — Amy Bailey Kelly was always on the lookout to fill her competitive drive.
From her softball playing days in college at Missouri State to her time spent mountain biking and adventure racing after she’d entered the real world, she was never afraid of a new challenge.
But as fun as those other sports were she still wanted more.
Kelly and her husband, Jerry Kelly, married five years ago. And quickly the search began for a new way to get in shape while at the same time meet their competitive fire.
The search led them to CrossFit.
“A couple of guys at the fire station found it online,” said Jerry, a captain with the Fayetteville Fire Department. “They started it out in California and after they had found it online, we started doing it at the fire station even before there was a CrossFit gym in Arkansas.”
Amy is also a captain with the Fayetteville Fire Department, the first female captain in the department after being promoted to the position last March. At first, CrossFit, which is a mix of aerobic exercise, body weight exercise, gymnastics, and Olympic weight lifting, was a way for the Kellys to get back in shape.
It soon became much more.
Amy Kelly quickly realized CrossFit could provide her the competiton she’d previously enjoyed in other sports.
The couple wasted no time getting certified as CrossFit trainers back in 2009. Amy trimmed off 30 pounds using the CrossFit training and nutrition program and was ready for more.
Last year, she competed as a member of CrossFit NWA gym team at the regional competition in Chicago, helping the six-member team finish ninth overall. That led her to a decision to compete as an individual in the CrossFit Open during this season.
Amy and all other CrossFit competitors are allowed to work out at their local gyms in the Open games. Certified trainers then tabulate the scores and enter the totals on the CrossFit website.
“Everyone in the world does the same workout and you’re ranked depending on where you fall, either with your time or with how many reps you have,” she said.
“Then once you post your score they rank you, and they combine all your scores from five workouts.”
Kelly’s scores were good enough to qualify for the North Central CrossFit regionals, held May 31 to June 2 at the Navy Pier in Chicago. There, she competed in a field consisting of women between the ages of 18 and 44 years old. Despite the wide range in age differences, the 41-year-old Kelly, finished in the top 60 for women age 18 and older, and ranked 25th in the world in her age group (40-44).
“They did it in heats and there were four heats for the women and the best girls go last, as you are ranked,” she said. “There were nine or 10 people in each heat, so there’s only that many people competing at the same time.
“If you’re a CrossFitter you know that most of the battle is against yourself. But it helps when you have somebody else suffering through it right next to you. And most of the time you don’t even notice the other people around you. I know I’m just paying real attention to what I’m doing.”
A Top 20 in her age group finish would have advanced her to the national CrossFit games, held July 22-28 in Carson, Calif. But despite just missing out on the national event, she is hungry for more competition after getting a taste of what CrossFit has to offer at the highest level.
“It’s good to go up against those girls that are really more competitive than you,” she said. “We have some strong girls here and I do okay in the gym here. But then when you get there (in regionals) and see that next level, you see how much better you can get. It’s good to see that next level of competition.”
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Amy Bailey Kelly
AGE: 41
SPORT: CrossFit
NOTABLE: She was named the first female captain in the Fayetteville Fire Department in March of 2012. … She and husband, Jerry Kelly, began the CrossFit program five years ago and are certified as trainers. … CrossFit was founded in 2000 by Greg Glassmen. The CrossFit programming is used by more than 6,100 gyms worldwide.