Crossfit games update

We recently ran several columns on Crossfit and the Crossfit games here. The last column featured local Crossfit gym owner (part owner actually) and athlete Tanya Wagner. Tanya was kind enough to provide this update on her club’s planned trip to the annually held world crossfit competition coming up very soon. While local athletes of all kinds are preparing to compete in the Lehigh Valley Sportsfest at Cedar Beach park right here in Allentown on July 16-18, Tanya and her crew will be busy out on the sunny left coast competing in the Crossfit Worlds. Here is what Tanya had to say:

I can tell you this: we are a team of 6, the 4 Apex owners, myself and Josh, Keith Bussom, Mike Feliciani, my sister, Angela Nice, and one of our members Teresa Davenport. We took 1st place at our regional qualifier the first weekend in May out in Logon, Ohio. And we will be competing with about 75 other teams from around the world to compete for the "fittest affiliate" We're so excited and can't wait to see what is coming our way. We know there will be eliminations throughout the weekend and we're hoping to make it to the finals on Sunday! Competition starts at 10am Friday July 16th. We train together once a week on Saturday mornings as a team and try to push as hard as we can together. Other than that we train mostly individual or with 1 other teammate.

Thanks,
Tanya

The following info about these games is from the website:
From the website:

The 2010 Competition Structure
What are the Games going to be like this year? What are the events? How many will there be? How will they be scored? These questions are important, of course, but they will not determine the winner. The winners will be the athletes who outperform their peers across broad time and modal domains. Even if we just took a diverse set of standard benchmark workouts like Fran, Helen, DT, Fight Gone Bad, and Murph, the fittest athletes would still end up on the podium.

"Ready for anything" is probably the best non-technical definition of fitness we have. Ready for not just the unknown, but for the unknowable. Firefighters, cops and soldiers have no specific idea of what they will be required to do when they respond to a call or engage the enemy. They don't know how long the effort will be, how much rest they'll get between calls, or how things will change mid-stream.

The 2010 Games are going to emphasize this component of real world fitness (to a point). We're only going to announce the next element of the competition at one time. Everyone will learn what the event is about an hour before it kicks off. Shortly after the event is completed, the athletes (and the public) will learn when their next event is. We're not going to say how many events there are, nor how they are spread out throughout the weekend. We will say that there will be some cuts of athletes and teams throughout the weekend.

All that being said, this is the sport of fitness, not BUD/S. The events are going to be great tests of fitness across broad time and modal domains, but rest assured we're not creating an insane paramilitary drill. By the end of the weekend, you'll see the method to the competition. The athletes will get the chance to rank themselves against their peers fairly and broadly.

Here are some more facts:
• The general schedule is the same as we published earlier.
• Everyone will know when the first event starts, when the details of the event will be released, and when the time of the second event will be announced.
• This will be true throughout the weekend. You'll always know when the next event will start and when the workouts will be announced.
• You won't know how many more events are in the competition or when the later events will start.
• From the athletes' perspective, they'll know what time their next event is. The workout and standards will be explained about an hour before the event. They will have plenty of time to warm-up and wrap their minds around the task. At the conclusion of the event, they will be told when their next event is, so they will have a known period of time to rest, refuel, etc. There will be no tricks or deception. It's just about taking it one event at a time.
• From the fans' perspective, you'll be in the same boat as the athletes. When Dave Castro briefs the athletes, we'll publish the event details here on the Games site. That briefing will also be streamed live, so if you're watching, you'll literally hear it with the athletes.
• Athletes must register at the Home Depot Center on Thursday, July 15th from 12-8pm Pacific.
• We will announce the scoring system as part of our live Preview Show, webcast on Thursday, July 15th at 6pm PDT (the site is live.crossfit.com, which will be converted to the Games Live Webcast page within a couple days).
• Teams will be briefed on their first workout at 9am on Friday, July 16th at the Track. Their first event will begin at 10am. At approximately 12:30pm, they will be told when to report for the explanation of their second workout. At that point, this website will also be updated with that information.
• Masters will be briefed on their first workout at approximately 12:30pm on Friday at the Track. Their first workout will begin at 1pm. At approximately 1:45pm, they will be told when to report for the explanation of their second workout, and the website will be updated.
• Individuals will be briefed on their first workout at 6pm on Friday at the Stadium. The Opening Ceremonies will take place, then their first workout will begin at 7pm. At approximately 9:15pm, they will be told when to report for the explanation of their second event, and the website will be updated.
• If a cut will occur after a given event, that will be clearly explained by Dave Castro in that event's briefing.
In summary, the athletes don't know what they are competing in (specifically). They know they will be asked to perform a wide variety of tasks over diverse periods of time. They know those tasks will be comprised of functional movements. They know they will have to outperform their peers if they want to win. But all the specifics are a mystery.
This is significant because this doesn't allow for specialization. In a powerlifting meet, you know you're going heavy and short. In a triathlon, you're going long and light. Being prepared for either or even both in the same event (theoretically) is a very different demand, and it makes our sport unique.
Still, all the athletes and teams are in the same boat. They know when their next event is. They'll have a little time to prepare mentally and warm up for the event. They'll need to perform well at every event because they don't know what comes next. Just like the real world.
Join us, and get your tickets now!