Meet the 10th fittest woman in Africa
Local Hyrox athlete from Noordheuwel and 10th fittest woman in Africa will compete at the World Championships in Chicago in June, but she needs the community's help to get there.
Juan-Marié Herbst recently qualified for the Hyrox World Championship, taking place in Chicago on June 13.
Hyrox is a global fitness racing sport that combines running and functional fitness exercises featuring a standardised format of 8km of running interspersed with eight functional workout stations.
There are different categories, including women, men, doubles women, doubles men, mixed doubles, pro women, pro men, pro women doubles, pro men doubles and pro mixed doubles. Juan-Marié explains how hyrox works.
“The pro category is just heavier weights at workout stations. Everyone does the same standardised format. Teams can share the functional workout stations, but both run together. Whereas if you’re single, you have to do everything on your own,” she explained.
Juan-Marié qualified as a pro woman aged 30 to 39.
She continued that she qualified for the Hyrox World Championships by participating in Johannesburg Hyrox on March 1, where she was second in her age category and third overall with a time of 1:17:37.
“I have national colours in cross country and three years ago, I started doing CrossFit but struggled with weightlifting and gymnastic skills.
When Hyrox first came to South Africa, I knew this was going to be my sport, as I love running and all the functional stations are what we already do in CrossFit. I also ended the CrossFit Open 2025 season as the 10th fittest woman in Africa,” she said.
Despite this remarkable achievement, the only challenge she faces in getting to the World Championship is financial support.
“Training has been done, and is going very well. I’m running more and trying to dip under 4min/km to really compete and do well among the best in the world,” she added.
She has thus taken the initiative to sell raffle tickets to fund her competition in Chicago. The prizes include a one-month unlimited training at Body Balance studio with bi-weekly InBody assessment worth R1 550 for R100 and a Makro voucher worth R4 000 for R150 per raffle.
“We are planning a golf day on May 29 at Ruimsig Country Club, and we are looking for companies or individuals to sponsor holes, contribute prizes or even just play golf that day. Any donation will contribute and help, no matter how big or small,” she concluded.
If you would like to get involved, contact Juan-Marié on 082 686 3168.
