She is the FINA World Champion.
She won “Best Ninja Athlete” and was the runner up for Best Female Athlete.
But a common thread we heard is “We don’t know Claire Bowman.”
We sought to fix it.
In this edition of 10 questions, we introduce you to this up-and-coming Ninja athlete as she talks about the road she has taken to her championship status, her life being a kid outside of ninja and more.
Let’s tell everyone who you are, your age (if you don’t mind) and where you are from
My name is Claire Bowman, I’m 15 years old, and I am from Northern Virginia.
1. How did you get involved in Ninja and Obstacle Racing?
I’ve always been a fan of American Ninja Warrior, and about 2.5 years ago I found the NoVa Ninja gym online. I asked my parents to let me do a camp there, and the trainers I was working with were impressed by some of the things I could do. They asked me to join their competition team. I started competing that fall and did pretty well, and it has just grown from there.
2. You are the current FINA Ninja World Champion and were at the World Ninja League Championships. What is the process like to get from qualifying events through Championships? Did you think you had a chance to win when the process started?
It depends on the league, but usually you go through a local qualifier, then a regional, and then on to Worlds. My first year I only really competed in UNAA and didn’t think I had much of a chance, but I won my regional and did pretty well when I went to Worlds. Last year I participated more in WNL and FINA. I knew I could compete and had a shot at finishing high, but I don’t think I really believed I could be World Champion until it happened.
3. How many hours a week do you train, what are your training sessions like? Feel free to promote your home gym, trainers and team.
Right now, I train for ninja 2-3 times per week for about 1.5 to 2 hours per session. I mostly do open gyms at Nova Ninja because my schedule makes it hard to be part of the comp team practices. That’s because I also play competitive soccer for a club called BRYC (Braddock Road Youth Club) and I’m planning to play for my high school in the spring, so that takes a lot of my time. But I like that I’m able to do both, and I think the cross-training has made me better at both sports.
Recently I also started doing rock climbing sessions with my coach Fares Ayoub, and that has been a lot of fun. It’s really good for grip strength and endurance.
4. I see you also won Goliathon in New Jersey last year. How many obstacle races are you doing each year, do you train different for OCRs and did you have other successes?
So far I’ve only done 2-3 per year, but my goal is to try and do more this year. I won Goliathon in June and had finished second there in October 2022, and this fall I also won the Richmond Zoo Run, which is a similar type of OCR event. I don’t change much in my training because I have obstacle strength from ninja and the endurance from soccer that helps me run these courses.
5. What are your long term (future) goals in the ninja sport, now that you are a World Champion?
Currently, I’m focused on getting back to worlds this summer. I’d like to try and defend my FINA title, and improve my performance at WNL, UNAA, and the Ninja World Cup. After that I don’t know, but I’m excited to keep going.
6. What advice do you have for people getting into Ninja? What should be their focus?
When starting ninja/OCR, you should try to train on obstacles as much as you can, because it’s different than work you can do anywhere else. A big part of my progress has been that I’ve been able to work on more and more obstacles through my training and comps, so when I get to an event it’s more likely that I’ve done something similar before.
The other thing is that you have to work on your forearms. They are so important for ninja, but most people don’t train them very hard.
7. How have your friends, teammates and people at school reacted to your championship? Did you take the belt to school?
I did not take the belt to school, but I have brought it to the ninja gym and soccer practice. Everyone thinks it’s really cool and is impressed. They always want to try it on, and everyone comments on how big and heavy it is.
8. What else do you do for fun, to stay active and to be a “kid”?
To me ninja is fun. Same with soccer. But when I’m not doing those, I like to hang out with my friends and go to school sports games to watch our friends play. I also read a lot of fantasy novels and enjoy hiking.
9. Anything we could or should know about you that you want to share?
I don’t think so, but I want to thank everyone who voted for me for Ninja Athlete of the Year. That was so cool, and I didn’t really think I would win.
