Endurance has the Kona Ironman, cycling has the Tour de France, and weightlifting has the World Championships. These marquee competitions crown the best athletes in the world in their respective sports.
In the last 10 years, CrossFit, the new “sport of fitness,” has emerged and with it, its marquee competition: the CrossFit Games. What is CrossFit? CrossFit is a fitness program that combines a wide variety of movements into a timed or scored workout. In competition, CrossFit workouts include pull-ups, squats, push-ups, weightlifting, gymnastics, running, rowing, and much more. The workouts are always changing, forcing athletes to be proficient in and prepared for anything.
In 2007, the minds behind CrossFit set out on the bold challenge to find and crown the fittest man and woman on earth in the sport of fitness. In brief, the history of the Games began in 2007 as a single event in Aromas, California with a mere 70 athletes competing in three workouts over one day.
Fast forward to 2012. The Games has blown up into a three-stage, worldwide competition open to any athlete in the world. The season begins with an Open competition with workouts are posted each week for five weeks and participants may perform the workouts at any one of the over 3,000 affiliates around the world or videotape it from home and submit it online to be validated. The top 60 male and 60 female athletes from the 17 worldwide regions advance to a Regional competition where they compete in six workouts over three days with only the top three advancing to the world championship, the CrossFit Games on July 15th in Carson, California where the fittest man and woman on earth will be crowned.
For the last four weeks, CrossFit Los Altos/FIT has hosted the Open workouts for our very own coaches and athletes: Rick Dyer, Scott Kolasinski, Matt Brockhaus, Jenny Lewis, and Dan Atler.
While all our athletes have enjoyed the competition and camaraderie, it’s studly coach Rick Dyer that’s been a standout once again in the Nor Cal region. Rick started the competition slow, placing 150th after the first workout in the region. Since then, Rick has been steadily moving up the ranks: 65th after week two, 55th after week three, and currently 42nd after week four.
With only one workout to go in the Open competition, competing against over 55,000 participants worldwide, Rick is poised to qualify to the Northern California Regionals in Santa Clara on May 18-20th for the second year in a row.
With more than 1500 competitors in what is considered one of the toughest regions in the world, Rick’s performance so far is a true exhibition of strength, athleticism, and sheer guts. Stay tuned for updates on Rick’s final performance of the Open.