On the 10 June 2012 we came together to raise money for the Katie Piper Foundation. A worth while local charity helping to improve peoples lives who have suffered from Burns and Scars.
The day saw 13 teams come together to take part in 4 events. 3 qualification events followed by a 4 team final to see who was Andover's Fittest Team. We had entries from the Andover Athletics Club, Andover Leisure Centre, Catalina Fruits, Sparsholt College, Test Valley Borough Council as well as some guest teams from our fellow CrossFit brethren in Reading.
To get the days activities organised in the first place we needed a little helping hand. UK Wide Security, Catalina Fruits and Shoecare sponsored the T-Shirts, Trophies and prizes. AFS ran the competition with Myself and Darren doing the running around. A few handy volunteers namely, Coach T, Leon, Jamie, Gibbo and Davey Boy helped out with the judging. Up on the Balcony John queued the music and put his vast experience of the banking world into good use with the collation of the scores and posting the wod results. And our loaders (they weren't aware of it when they arrived) Andy and Craig shifted some serious weight to get the events prepped.
Event 1 - The Row
A 3km team row presented many of the teams with a dilemma. Do we do quick changes and short bursts, or do we do longer stints and less changes. By the end of the event it became apparent that all strategies were thrown out the window and most just gripped it and ripped it and held nothing back. "Sexy and We KNow It"(SAWKI) had a strong line up. Representing TAFS Jamie, Gibbo, Steve and Cally all had very good engines and rowed hard for 3rd place in 9:57. Reading 4 took the longer approach, and with an international standard rower in the team who could blame them. They came in 2nd with 9:23 but it was Reading team 1 who were a class apart all day and they stormed in at 9:20 to take first.
Event 2 - Ground To Overhead
The GTOH saw many participants in unchartered territory. Some had never attempted a max effort Clean and Jerk before and some had never lifted full stop. Under the pressure of competition however all surpassed even their own expectations. Many hitting as much as 10kg over their previous bests. The Freaks performed brilliantly here. Having 2 ladies in their line meant we doubled the score of their best lift to bring it in line with the other teams. A total of 345kg saw all their team achieve personal best lifts. SAWKI came in 2nd. Again all their team members hit personal best lifts to total 350kg. Reading 1 however were dominant and were headed by Iain Holland with the days best lift of 125kg. they totalled 385 to take their 2nd 1st place finish.
Event 3 - The Chipper
We flipped the format on its head for the 3rd event and went down a much more familiar CrossFit workout. A chipper consisting of 100 deadlifts, 100 Hand release push ups, and kettlebell swings. This was the final event before we cut the teams for the Grand Finale. The teams flew out of the blocks with the 80kg DL's for guys being no problem. When it came to the ladies deadlift the bar had to be stripped down to 50kg before they could continue. Becky Pykett of Reading 1 demolished her deadlifts and the win was never in doubt. They came in at 6:28 to complete the hat trick. Second was a different matter. SAWKI started strong but The Freaks gave a valiant chase. The deadlifts were nip and tuck with Allie and Alix doing the majority of the lifts. The hand release push ups saw SAWKI it forge ahead. To say it was in the wheel house of Gibbo, Cally, Jamie and Steve would be an understatment. As they both approached the Kettle bell swings it was very tight the lighter 12kg KB gave The Freaks a run at coming from behind. The Aussie Oak led from the front and they pipped SWAKI at the post for 2nd with a time of 6:49. SWAKI came home third in 6:55.
We had a short break and collated all the scores from the first part of the competition. Jessica Grant fired up the BBQ and myself, Darren, Craig and Andy went about organising the Final Event. Here were the fianl standings after the 3 events:
|
Team Name
|
3km Row
|
Pos
|
GTOH
|
Pos
|
Chipper
|
Pos
|
Final Standings
|
|
Reading 1
|
9:20
|
1
|
385
|
1
|
6:28
|
1
|
3
|
|
Sexy and We Know It
|
9:57
|
3
|
350
|
2
|
6:55
|
3
|
8
|
|
Freaks Of Nature
|
10:09
|
7
|
345
|
3
|
6:49
|
2
|
12
|
|
Reading 3
|
9:58
|
4
|
335
|
4
|
6:57
|
4
|
12
|
|
ATM Allstars
|
10:01:00
|
6
|
335
|
4
|
7:31:00
|
7
|
17
|
|
Reading 4
|
9:23:00
|
2
|
290
|
10
|
7:16:00
|
6
|
18
|
|
Reading 2
|
10:16:00
|
8
|
320
|
6
|
7:14:00
|
5
|
19
|
|
Prosthesus
|
9:59:00
|
5
|
305
|
7
|
8:00:00
|
10
|
22
|
|
Undecided
|
10:16:00
|
8
|
300
|
9
|
7:33:00
|
8
|
25
|
|
AAC
|
10:54:00
|
13
|
305
|
7
|
8:21:00
|
12
|
32
|
|
Reading 5
|
10:24:00
|
10
|
285
|
11
|
8:03:00
|
11
|
32
|
|
The Vegetables
|
10:48:00
|
12
|
280
|
12
|
9:49:00
|
13
|
37
|
|
Team ALC
|
10:38:00
|
11
|
275
|
13
|
8:00:00
|
9
|
33
|
The Final
As we had 4 teams in the final who all had some CrossFit experience we wanted to showcase a little more of what makes CrossFit so special. We combined the Cardio fitness element of a 400m Relay, with the Gymnastics skills of Burpee Box Jumps and Toes 2 Bar and finished it all off with some Snatch's and a fireman's Carry.
It was clear early on that Reading 1 and SAWKI were going to battle it out for first place. R1 having an ex para and SWAKI having a local PTI in their ranks made for a close finish off the run. "The Aussie Oak" Chris Grant, and Allie Mosley kept The Freaks in touch with R3.
Each member of the team had to have an attempt at a rope climb. 8 in total needed to be scaled before moving on. Luckily this wasn't enough it incur to much skin removal.
The Burpee Box Jumps then separated the field a little more. If you have ever tried 7 minutes of burpees you will understand that adding a box jump to it is just plain nasty. The techniques here varied. R1 jumped on and jumped off changing every rep while SAWKI doubled and tripled their BBJ's to catch up. Graham, The Oak, Allie and Alix all did brilliantly well. Alix was still unsure as to weather or not she could manage the 24" box after a full day of competition but she did magnificently well and had no trouble in the end.
The Toes 2 bar are a essentially a hanging Leg Raise on steroids. Grab hold of the bar, swing your legs as hard as you can until your toes touch the bar your holding. Anyone with tree trunk legs like myself can appreciate this is not an easy task. R1 hit the bar first and began churning out the reps. Only Becky had a little trouble getting her rhythm. Once she did she smashed through her fair share with no problem at all. SAWKI lost ground here. Cally, having recently acquired the T2B technique dug in deep to push SAWKI on. Each member rising to the challenge and pitching in with a cracking effort. Reading 1 though had moved clear to begin the Snatch's.
Our olympic lifting component was the snatch @35kg for everyone. None of our competitors struggled with the weight although as we approached the 15minute mark the stamina was starting to wain. R1 were about 20reps in front and never looked like being caught. They finished the snatch's jumped on each other's backs and cantered over the finish line to take the overall win. SAWKI powered through the snatch's and finished 2nd. R3 got to the Fireman's carry just as SAWKI finished but were in a clear third. The Freaks got the prize for best effort. The Toes2Bar saw both Alix and Allie performing way above their own expectations. Graham pitched in with a really big push on the Snatch's and the Aussie Oak who had been superb all day carried the team home in 4th (Not all 3 on his own I may add).
The end result was a fantastic day had by all. Iris Anderson gave out the trophies on behalf of The Katie Piper Foundation and Reflex Nutrition supplied a little goody bag for each of the teams. After the BBQ was devoured and the money collected we managed to raise £500 for the charity so a very rewarding day all round!!
