CrossFit community unites to honour murdered mother Hannah Clarke and her three children
Australia’s CrossFit community has rallied to honour murdered mother Hannah Clarke and her three children with a special event.
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She used to say that upside down in a handstand was the best way to view the world.
So it is fitting that the CrossFit community has rallied to honour murdered mother Hannah Clarke and her three children with a Handstands for Hann event.
Organisers hope CrossFit gyms across Australia will join the March 7 event that will commemorate Ms Clarke and her children Aaliyah, 6, Laianah, 4 and Trey, 3, who were burned alive by Rowan Baxter in a domestic violence attack in Brisbane’s Camp Hill last Wednesday.
“We wanted to honour Hann for who she was,” Ms Clarke’s CrossFit friend and event organiser Caitlin Langford said.
“She was always super happy. She was mega strong. She was an amazing athlete, an incredible mother. She was so kind to everyone and she just loved everyone. She was so beautiful and happy all the time.
“This is our way to do something with our grief and anger and channel it into something in Hannah’s memory.”
Ms Clarke, 31, a former competitive gymnast and trampoliner, was a gifted CrossFit athlete.
She competed in New Zealand’s annual Fittest Mum competition last year and had planned to compete in the finals this year until Baxter refused to permit her to compete, friends said.
She and her estranged-husband Baxter co-owned Integr8 Fitness, a CrossFit gym in Capalaba, in Brisbane’s southeast, where rugby league players Sam Thaiday and Matt Gillett had trained.
CrossFit was not just Ms Clarke’s livelihood, it was also her escape from what her family has described as a marriage of emotional torture and sexual abuse.
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Her social media profiles included pictures of her training intensely — flipping truck tyres and carrying her three children simultaneously instead of sandbags.
Her daughters were regularly at the gym training alongside their mum, while their little brother Trey played nearby.
“Those girls were machines,” Ms Langford said. “They were just like their mum.”
Handstands for Hann is open to anyone of any fitness level and will feature Ms Clarke’s favourite workout, including handstand walks and lunges.
All money raised will go to DV Connect and 1800 RESPECT, that offer domestic, family and sexual violence support services, Ms Langford said.
For more information go to Handstands for Hann on Instagram or Facebook.
Originally published as CrossFit community unites to honour murdered mother Hannah Clarke and her three children