Today I’ve been able to reflect on this past weekend at Regionals, as well as this past year. I’m not a great writer or one for lengthy blog posts but these events usually get one out of me. Regionals are always a very intense and emotional experience. Athletes train hard all year for a chance to compete at the highest level and most don’t make it. This was the first year out of 5 that I’ve owned an Affiliate that we won’t be represented at the games. We knew going into this year that this was likely going to be the situation. We had a new team line-up, and two athletes competing as individuals for the the first time. The team was competing very well and was contending for a top ten spot when Andy Ekleberry broke his first rib on the last thruster of the rope climb workout. The team was still able to finish the event in 10th, but Andy was out for the rest of the competition. The team could compete until he had to go then walk off the floor. It wasn’t the finish anyone wanted but there wasn’t anything that could be done. Andy had worked hard all year and had improved into an individual caliber athlete. He proved it while he was able to compete, hitting 15 muscle-ups in a row, hitting our biggest snatch, maxing out his handstand walk, and taking the biggest sets on our thrusters. There’s no doubt he will be back next year. Joey and Kyri were great on the individual side this year! Joey competing in only his second competition show’d he belonged to be out there with the big boys! He also undoubtedly learned alot about what it will take to take it to the next level. The sky is the limit for him. Kyri was a bit more seasoned than Joey and has been to the games on two different teams including ours in 2012! This year she decided she wanted to see where she stacked up with the best. The programming was not in her favor, but she handled the workouts very well and finished all but the chipper under the time caps! Training for and competing in this Regional made her a much better and more well rounded Crossfit athlete! She vastly improved her squat snatch muscle-ups, handstand push-ups, handstand walks, and rope climbs! I am very proud of her. One huge PR we had was the support from our Affiliate! We had a huge turnout in Cincinnati all three days! Our community at the gym has really grown tremendously over this past year and the support from everyone has never been felt as strongly! I can’t say enough about how awesome it was to see our gym representing so strongly in the crowd! One last thing note on regionals was the performance from my business partner Graham Holmberg. Graham was incredible and is still my favorite athlete to watch perform. He’s stand out every time he’s out there, coming out hot on workouts, out sprinting other athletes and being the most clutch athlete I’ve ever seen. He gets more out of what he’s got than any other athlete I’ve ever seen. He has the rare ability to turn the kind of adrenaline that freezes most people into tunnel vision and focus. I would be shocked if he doesn’t get a wildcard invite. Moving forward we evolve and be better next year. I am proud of our athletes but not satisfied with the outcome. We have some very exciting things in the pipeline including a sponsoring athletes and a team in competitions leading up to next year. Stay tuned in the coming weeks and month as we develop this program! - Brandon
Posted on: Mon, 19 May 2014 21:18:41 +0000
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