Joe Murphy flies flag for Jersey in the Netherlands

JERSEY Functional Fitness Association Chairman Joe Murphy shone bright at the iF3 Masters & Juniors European Championships, finishing eighth in the Master Male 40-44 category.

Hosted at Maaspoort Den Bosch, Marathonloop 1 in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, Murphy made the trip as Jersey’s lone competitor.

“It was a great honour to represent Jersey for the second time, after competing in the World Championships last December,” said Murphy.

“The event was massive, there were hundreds of people taking part, and it’s always a great experience to compete internationally.”

Competitive Functional Fitness is a relatively new sport, where athletes must show their competency in a variety of movements and activities. These realms include strength, endurance, speed, calisthenics/gymnastics, power, mixed modal and skill.

Due to the huge social media trends of Hyrox and CrossFit opening the door, Functional Fitness is booming around the globe, taking over the fitness community to become a new obsession.

Joe Murphy, seen here at the Crossfit Madeira Games, showcased excellent skill to finish eighth on the European stage.

However, despite a global surge in participation, its still early days locally, with Murphy founding the Jersey Functional Fitness Association in 2022.

“It’s been a slow process, but we only began competition late last year, at the 2024 Worlds, so it’s still early on,” Murphy continued.

“Most gyms on the Island now offer Functional Fitness spaces, due to high demand, so it’s definitely getting more popular. I still think there’s a lack of awareness which is acting as a barrier, so I want to keep promoting to the masses.”

After the “cool experience” of an opening ceremony, the Islander faced a daunting opening day. During the three-day competition, a total of two tests were carried out each day.
One can’t play down the size of the tournament, as a total of 418 athletes registered to compete in the Netherlands, from all across Europe.

Day one saw an endurance test usher in competition, with athletes tasked to complete a 400-metre run and as many metres as possible on the C2 BikeErg every four minutes, for four rounds.

Conditions proved adverse, as the activities proved extremely difficult in the intense heat: “It was around 33 degrees (celsius) for the first event, which made it really tough – I just melted.”

This didn’t aid his efforts, as the endurance test saw him notch his lowest ranking of the championships, finishing 13th with a score of 5,235m and securing 64 points.

Despite the start not being ideal, Murphy was keen to get back on track, with a strength test set to round out the first day.

Hopes were high for the Jerseyman to have success in this area, with the workout playing to his strengths. Athletes had to find their max weights in six minutes, for a complex of one power clean and two hang squat cleans.

Let’s just say Murphy didn’t disappoint, as he shone to score an impressive 125kg, gaining him 88 points and a fifth-placed finish in the workout.

It was a mixed bag to kick things off, but finishing on a high would put him in good stead for the next day. Tests continued to present themselves going into day two, as an intense mixed workout lay ahead.

Like a circuit, participants had to do 21-15-9 repetitions of bar facing burpees, barbell movements (round one: power snatch, round two: squat snatch and round three: overhead squat) and goblet squats.

That test was then followed by the bodyweight workout in the evening, which demanded athletes to complete as many reps as possible of ten handstand push-ups, eight chest to bar pull-ups, six strict handstand push-ups, four bar muscle-ups and 30 double unders.

Results were more consistent, but it wasn’t what he was aiming for, finishing 11th in both events. His scores were CAP +125 reps in the mixed and 245 reps in the bodyweight, adding up to 140 points on the day.

The final day offered Murphy a last chance to shoot up the rankings, which he grabbed with both hands.

He carried on in the same vein as the previous evening, starting strong to finish fifth in the skill test. With a time cap of eight minutes, the Caesarean posted CAP + 102 reps of 15 calorie SkiErg, three legless rope climbs and three ten-metre unbroken handstand walks.

Contestants then had to do another session of the 15 calorie SkiErg, three legless rope climbs (tie-break time), two ten-metre handstand walks with a full pirouette at the halfway point, then go yet again on the 15 calorie SkiErg, three legless rope climbs and only one ten-metre unbroken handstand walk, this time going backwards.

Such a high finish nabbed him 88 points, and he was eager to maintain that trajectory going into the final challenge. A power test concluded the competition, and Murphy gave it his all to finish on a high note.

It wasn’t going to be easy however, as he was challenged to complete 15-12-9 repetitions of deadlifts and box jump overs as fast as he could, within an eight-minute time cap.

But he faced the challenge head on, smashing it to achieve a remarkable time of two minutes and seventeen seconds, ensuring a positive seventh-place ranking in the workout for a brilliant finish.

Another 82 points mounted up to a mammoth total of 462 points, which saw him finish eighth out of the 30 ranked competitors.

Joe Murphy put in a solid all-round performance, earning him a final ranking of eighth.

Off the back of a strong outing in the championships, the association’s chairman hopes for more growth in the Island, with plans already in place: “If we want to grow the sport, we need to lean toward the educational side and spread awareness.”

“The next step is to establish classes for juniors in Functional Fitness. The interest is there as our CrossFit classes here at Jersey CrossFit are quite popular, so it’s about directing that programme into Functional Fitness.”

“In general, it’s great for kids, as taking part in the sport teaches them all the correct movements and techniques. I came to this from football in search of a new challenge, it’s so rewarding and it’s great to do – everyone should give it a go.”

Attention is now set on the upcoming world championships later this year, with aspirations to go further: “This has taught me I need to be better prepared, as I came into this one near straight from a holiday, so only had two weeks of training. Obviously so much can happen, so target-wise I’ll know where I’m at closer to the date.”

With the next event in sight, the Jersey representative wants more people to compete, saying: “It’s great to represent Jersey and fly the flag, but it would be so much better to have an army there, like a real team.

“In the meantime I’m going to try to keep promoting, as I want to draw more people to the sport.”

Once again, Joe Murphy has represented Jersey on the big stage, with his starring performance doing the Island proud.

If you want to get involved, don’t hesitate to contact joefmurphy1985@gmail.com, or visit jerseycrossfit.je/jffa. Whether you’d like to compete or not, it’s got something for everyone.

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