Bayley Martin and Poppy Hay Win the 2025 Down Under Championship
Australia’s largest offseason competition, the 2025 Down Under Championship (DUC), was held in Wollongong from October 24 to 26.
- For the second year, an Elite Pairs division was added to the schedule, running alongside the Elite Individuals, Masters, Futures, Adaptive, RX, and Intermediate categories.
A mix of local and international Games-level athletes threw down across both Elite divisions, grinding through seven workouts before the champions were crowned on Sunday afternoon.
Women’s Elite Individual Division
Poppy Hay won on the women’s side after a three-day-long battle and a margin of only one point over second-place finisher Daisy McDonald.
The eventual third-place finisher, Isabella Vallejo, led heading into the second and then the final days of competition. Still, Hay managed to climb her way up several spots each day.
- She racked up two third-place finishes on the two final workouts, which ultimately led to her win. McDonald snagged an event win on Workout 6, a three-rounder for time of handstand walking, toes-to-bar, and Assault Bike calories.
Vallejo took third place, winning two events along the way.
- One of our favorite moments from the weekend was seventh-place finisher Isabella Andueza’s event win on Workout 5, where athletes worked up to a one-rep-max clean.
Andueza successfully lifted 297 pounds (135kg).
Check out the full leaderboard here.
Women’s Elite Pairs Division
The three teams we were watching leading into the competition were the three that podiumed, and it was a very close race.
Marnie Sykes and Briony Challis finished day one tied for first place, then took the lead on day two and stayed there.
- The power team finished outside the top five only once, and although they never won a workout, their consistent finishes over the three days led to their victory.
Workouts 3 and 7 were nailbiters for the pair, as they finished second by two seconds in both.
- Second place went to Emily De Rooy and Charlotte Baldwin, with Georgia Pryer and Maisie Wilde taking third.
Check out the full leaderboard here.
Men’s Elite Individual Division
Bailey Martin’s comeback was complete this weekend as he stood atop the podium. Martin beat second-place finisher Zane Healy by a staggering 59 points and secured three event wins along the way.
- Ben Fowler finished third and won Workout 1, which was one of our favorites.
The workout was two rounds for time with a 21-minute time cap:
- 1k medball run
- 2k/1.5km Assault Bike
- 100 double-unders
Fowler finished in 17:45, just two seconds ahead of second place, Joel Molinia.
For us, the must-watch event was Workout 5, where we saw the athletes max out their cleans.
Martin’s win of 396 pounds/180kg was actually a tie, as sixth-place finisher Hiko O Te Rangi Curtis cleaned 180kg as well.
Bailey’s brother Riley took second in the event with a 385-pound/175kg clean.
Check out the full leaderboard here.
Men’s Elite Pairs Division
Brandyn Gaskill and Liam Ford took first place; impressively, the pair never finished lower than third in any event.
Khan Porter and Zac Thomas took second place and won Workout 1 in a tight race by only five seconds.
- Third place went to HWPO Training’s Jake Marconi and Jake Douglas.
While Gaskill and Ford took the win on the max clean event, Marconi and Douglas finished in second place.
Marconi and Douglas went out with a bang and won the final event.
Check out the full leaderboard here.
Featured image: Sebastian Vallejo
