Well, our first competition has come and gone and I have to say that I’m very pleased.
I conceived the idea of an in house competition for CrossFit 858 because I figured it would be a great way to let those newer athletes experience the competition side of CrossFit. Some of them may also be otherwise too shy or even scared to compete in local competitions, so I wanted the competition to be housed on their home turf and amongst familiar faces. I also wanted this to be a team format to help strengthen bonds among the athletes, or perhaps create new ones. I was very happy to see some teams comprised of people that have been at the gym for less than a month, and some other teams comprised of people who don’t go to the same regular classes. Its events like these that will bring our gym closer together.
Hopefully, after today, a few or perhaps all of the competitors have been bitten by the competition bug and will want to venture out and compete in other regional events after today. As I stated in the closing ceremony, if you liked what you either saw or experienced today, sign up for the CrossFit Open which starts March 6th, 2013. For more info, CLICK HERE.
I just wanted to also say how PROUD I am of all the competitors. Watching the veterans like Janelle and Alanna rock through the workouts to a podium finish made me proud, especially when I think back to teaching them how to air squat when they first started. I was also proud of the newer competitors, Laura H. and Jess W. from Team Dirty Dutch powering through Team Fran and seeing this shot of Laura pulling her teammate to the finish line, reminds me of why our sport of CrossFit isn’t just “working out”:
2 emotions, one team.
Leslie B. ripping out those thrusters with the same tenacity as a pitbull and seeing Brenda S. fearlessly charging into all 3 wods is just simply inspiring. On the mens side, Big Mike Cox and Bryan “Adam Levine” Vanzant doing their thing was no surprise considering the way they train on a normal basis, but watching newcomers Jeff S. and Ken K. use what they’ve recently learned in CrossFit during a competition makes me feel like a proud dad. And speaking of proud dad, how about watching Papa Joe A. wod side by side with his son Jeseah? Son actually had a few steps on Dad during the last wod, if I’m not mistaken…. 🙂
Let us not forget the presence of the one and only Bernard Llave. You want to talk about a fighter and an inspiration, having this guy around is always a reminder of why we should always push harder, take another step, or get back up when we fall down:
Today’s competition was a learning experience for me too. Having competed and coached at several competitions myself, I had an idea of what it takes to put one of these on but had never organized one until today. I have to say, I too may have been biten by the competition bug but on the organization side. I’m considering taking what I learned today and forming a competition committee of sorts and dividing and conquering responsibilities so we can form a better competition on a bigger scale… more ideas to come later.
I’ll close out by sincerely thanking the competitors for today. You all didn’t just show up, you showed up ready to fight. It’s that spirit that makes or breaks these events. I also want to thank the judges. Thank you for volunteering (or being drafted by me) and upholding the standards and accuracy of the wods. Also thanks to the photographers, Phil P and Roger C. These guys spent the entire day trying to capture every special moment for you to remember and share with your friends and loved ones. Special thanks to Ollie O. for being my score keeper on my laptop and not hijacking my Facebook while he was at it. Without Ollie, the scores wouldn’t have been accurate and the transition times between events would have been much longer! Finally, HUGE thank you to Pete’s Paleo for providing lunch to all the competitors and judges. Pete has been a friend of CrossFit 858’s for some time and his generosity to us is not unnoticed.
So that’s it for now, see you at our next competition: The Left Coast In.. no… The Rumble in…. nope. The Thrilla in Manila Mesa? Nah. I’m going to have to work on the title…….