1. Richard Vanmeerbeek wrote...

Wow !!!

2. Kevin replied to comment from Richard Vanmeerbeek ...

Awesome! I was suffering from "what do I train for now Syndrome". Now I have an answer!

3. silverback wrote...

Very very cool. Question: If you attend a qualifier and do not make it, can you still try again in late May and get in?

4. Bill Yundt replied to comment from silverback...

"... or just barely missed qualifying at their regional..."

In other words, yes.

5. Kris Kepler wrote...

make it easy, how about rewarding individuals who just missed qualifying... give each region additional spots.

6. Brandon Phillips wrote...

Kevin Lowe is a beast...that pic is awesome!!

7. "newG" wrote...

Is HQ unsatisfied with the athletes these regional qualifiers have garnished? Or disenfranchised with the regional workouts? I thought the point of leaving the athletes to qualify by regions would give a quantifiable measure to where the best athletes were training and the best programs? By allowing people to qualify based on your WODs i.e. your workout standards and expectations will you not be saying your WOD is a better measure of fitness and preparedness for the unknown? Being the ones putting on the 09 games you will have first hand knowledge of what kind of fitness expectations you have and I'm sure those will be elicited within your WOD? Is this another attempt for crossfit.com training model to be proven as the best prescribed workout for the unknown? Kind of biased when you "know" the unknown. No disrespect meant, but had I been an affiliate or a promoter of one of these events with strict guidelines and expectations that must have been met in order to make it into a qualifying position; I would feel dis-empowered by this attempt to take into your own hands who is the most worthy athletes to be represented at the 09 crossfit games. I'm just curious on the logic that went into this decision? by no means are you obligated to me, but I do think you have an obligation to uphold the community standards you are wanting each crosssfitter and affliate to uphold. You call a failed rep a failed rep. You didn't qualify, you don't go to the games.

8. Tony B. replied to comment from Kris Kepler...

Kris,
This isn't about just getting more people. It's about giving folks whose life circumstances didn't allow them to get to one of the qualifying events. The most obvious of these are deployed soldiers. So, if we have an opportunity for them to qualify outside the regionals, why not just open it up? If we don't, by what criteria do we determine that they REALLY couldn't make a qualifier, or are just saying that? It's much simpler to just open it up.

newG
You couldn't be further from our thinking. By current estimations, about 90% of the competing athletes will be determined by the regional qualifiers, with another 5% or so coming from last year's Games. There are going to be a few spots left over and we figured this is the fairest way to determine who those final spots should go to.

So, not an HQ conspiracy. Sorry.

9. RV-KY @ Underground Fitness, NKY wrote...

Interesting...

I hope you all do the same next year. I'm scheduled for officer school and I don't think they'd excuse me to go work out for two days.

10. Amanda wrote...

I agree to an extent with newG. I don't think people that just barely missed qualifying in their region should have another chance because obviously they weren't good enough to qualify therefore not good enough to compete with the best athletes in the world.
I do agree that if you could not make it because of certain reasons like a deployment or just something that came up you should have a chance to qualify. The best athletes want the best competition and allowing them a chance to qual is only fair.
But I also think I read on the southwest quals that there will be 75m and 75f at the games. That leaves about 20 slots m & f after the qualifiers for extras so how else would they fill those? By allowing people to send in videos.
Oh and one last thing about allowing more spots.....I think the spots that were given to people that scaled workouts and not do them rx'd is crap. If only 1 or 2 females did the WOD as rx'd those should be the only 2 that qualify and the rest of the spots not filled. I also wouldn't of wrote WODS that involve a ton of HSPU or muscle-ups. Some people just don't think. Mid-atlantic region though....very well thought out and those will be the better competitors at the games. Good luck!

11. The Pie wrote...

This is awesome. The other big thing this does is allow those of us who couldn't afford to fly and stay in a hotel for our qualifier to get a chance to compete and more importantly train for something.
I personally just opened up my affiliate in North Vancouver and can't really justify spending $800 or so to go to Calgary for the qualifier even though it would be a sick weekend, when HSBC credit line is paying the bills right now.
I think that is awesome of HQ to offer us broke mother f***ers an opportunity.
The Pie
CrossFit Lions

12. Kris Kepler replied to comment from Tony B....

Tony,
I whole heartedly 100% agree with allowing deployed soldiers the opportunity to compete that didn't get a chance,... i ould give up my spot to anyone of them if need be!

I was only commenting about individuals who competed but didn't qualify. every region has had different workouts, some competitors who didn't qualify out of their region possibly could have qualified out of a different region.... not a big deal. I'm 100% in agreement that the best of the best should be at the games competing.... but, I can see in the future every regional qualifier having to put on the exact same wods as the next to keep it fair across the board.

13. Reno_Ty wrote...

I think this is pretty cool. The only real bummer about this is that if you send in a video, you have an opportunity to do the WOD multiple times if you don't nail it the first time. Sure, you could limit the time people have to send in the video, but then people will cry foul for not giving them enough time to capture the video and encode it to the proper format... And we all know that learning how to game a WOD will almost always result in a better time the next time you do it. But on the flipside, this is only for a small number of spots. Call them wild-cards, underdogs, etc...
Again, I'm just excited to watch all these athletes in Aromas, and this adds even more excitement. So...cool!

14. Paul Kirk wrote...

I think it's a good way to find any monsters lurking out there who, for whatever reason, couldn't make it to a qualifier.

I couldn't disagree more with the notion of every region having the same wods. Work capacity is what we are looking for, not the best in a specific set of skills.

I would like to see a standardization in the number of workouts each region holds.

15. Rob Moore wrote...

If people can show cause for not making a regional (ie deployed soldiers) I have no problem with this concept. However if you competed and did not qualify then there's always next year. You're either good enough or you aren't.

As far as people qualifying for the games and they scaled a workout. Cyndi Frieling in the Great Basin regional scaled HSPU's, although she received no points for her workout, and still had the 3rd most points. In the Great Basin Regional men were required to do box jumps that were 30", women 24", step ups were not allowed. In so. Cal men were required to do box jumps 24" and step ups were allowed. I'm all for the "unknown" aspect of the qualifiers, but when you require a standard of work at one regional, and lesser dtandard at another, how can you make the claim "the best athletes."

As long as there is no standard or measure of waht an elite Crossfit athlete is, the debate will rage and everyone who can tie their shoelaces will have 2nd chances to qualify. And I'm not entirely sure that HQ doesn't want it taht way.

16. kath@crossfitnorthatlanta.com wrote...

Hell YEA!!!
(not me lol) but I know some INCREDIBLE elite CrossFitters who shoulda had a slot and "circumstances" just interfered with that. I think it would be awesome for one more legitimate chance to show what they got. This is such a surprise... I think it will give a lot of people hope -- and make the Games even MORE rockin'!!

17. Drew H wrote...

I am really excited just about the opportunity to compete. I am unable to go to a regional qualifier this year due to circumstances out of my control. More than anything I am excited to see where I stand against all the other videos that get sent in. I am hoping and partly assuming that you will post a full list of the rankings so everyone will know where they stand once it is completed, whether they made it or not.

18. Mick wrote...

I might give this a crack

19. Kris Kepler replied to comment from Tony B....

Tony,
I whole heartedly 100% agree with allowing deployed soldiers the opportunity to compete that didn't get a chance,... i ould give up my spot to anyone of them if need be!

I was only commenting about individuals who competed but didn't qualify. every region has had different workouts, some competitors who didn't qualify out of their region possibly could have qualified out of a different region.... not a big deal. I'm 100% in agreement that the best of the best should be at the games competing.... but, I can see in the future every regional qualifier having to put on the exact same wods as the next to keep it fair across the board.

20. buretto wrote...

That's going to be a lot of videos to sort through... unless... I have a feeling the bar for the feats to be performed on these videos will be very, very high! Think "Fittest Man Alive" high.

As for the idea that people will practice until they get it to a point that can be gamed, I doubt HQ will allow for it with the standards, likely to require a certain amount of work, that no one could repeat and survive within a week, over a limited amount of documented time.

It's great. Anyone who wanted to claim that they didn't qualify because their region had this many firebreathers or did that weight or their least favorite movement can put up or shut up. Anyone who couldn't make a qualifier, for whatever reason (which would be impossible to judge), can give it a go. And, we can rest assured that we'll see the best there is at the games.

21. Ken wrote...

I completely agree that as a group crossfit athletes are the "fittest" out there. No question in my mind. But the very nature of the crossfit mantra (being good at everything) makes it impossible to have two-day regional qualifiers or games that will uniquely identify the "best" crossfitter every time without averaging performances over many diverse competitions. if the final games workout was a very long event, or a lighter event, the outcome at the games may have been different. Similarly, If individual regional workouts are changed, some different athletes would likely qualify, but some would remain in their spots. Thus, even though the crossfit leaders have done a fantastic job in the regionals and games competitions to test a variety of movements, weights, and timescales, it will never be perfect, and scooping up a few extra athletes will just make the competition that much better.

Because of this I see no problem with an extra chance to qualify. My prediction is that given the ridiculous competition this extra workout will bring to bear, the athletes that qualify through this route will do pretty well at the games provided the workout has sufficient diversity in movements, weights, and timescales. Kudos for the crossfit leaders for coming up with something innovative here.

22. "newG" wrote...

Thank you TonyB for responding. I by no means am attempting to get into a pissing contest, but merely testing the logic which decisions are held by. I recognize that there are life circumstances that may have inhibited many people from making a qualifier; let alone qualifying for the actual 09 games. I understand that you believe it would be the fairest means of getting more people involved. But I also remember that crossfit has standards which are the only means to keep things fair. Do I think its fair that im 5'6"@155# and I have to move the same weight that someone who is 6'1"@200#? no it's not fair, but that's my life circumstance, I deal with it and move on. The standards put into place before a workout should be the only measure of fairness. I am just trying to point out that standards for qualifying were already set and deviating from those standards calls into question if "every second counts", truly counts. By allowing people to take another shot at qualifying by adding new standards or changing the standards from what were once set(by the respected regions) you are effectively making the standards that were set in each region null and discrediting their ability to produce the "fittest athletes", not to mention taking fairness completely out of the equations. I thought the biggest part of this regional qualifier thing was to test the model of fitness and different training expectations. Leaving it to the regions to determine what is fit, and then see how they fair at the games against the HQ model of fitness(09 games workouts).

Maybe I'm continually speaking out of my ass or sounding like a broken record, if so, I humbly apologize. I understand growth and change, but I guess I just had higher expectations of HQs ability to see through the standards in which they set in motion. My bad for placing those high expectations on anyone but myself.

23. Ryan Brown wrote...

I think this is a really cool idea. If I don't qualify, I'm probably gonna do this.

24. Reno_Ty wrote...

newG,
I don't understand why this is such a problem. This is like working back up out of the loser's bracket in a tournament. Or getting drawn as the wild-card. Or not qualifying for the Boston Marathon at CIM, but qualifying at the Honolulu Marathon. Or whatever...
Quibling over the qualifying process is irrelevant. If someone doesn't qualify in SoCal and then they make it in via this other method, they'd still have to compete against the people that they'd already lost to (again, think loser's bracket). It's not like this is a free pass. I think it just adds flavor and opportunity. But feel free to obsess over it :-) This is a small number of spots and I suspect that they will be filled by some real monsters anyway.

Reno Out

25. "newG" replied to comment from Reno_Ty...

I guess I'm just a stickler for "the standard" and seeing them upheld.

I understand it is not a free pass to get in, but its a free pass to "life circumstances" or catching a bad WOD(one you suck at so to speak), which would go to show a lack of preparedness on the broad general inclusive fitness model. And that lack should mean you missed your chance at the games this year and back to the drawing boards to figure out how to improve your approach to broad general inclusive fitness; Not you get another chance given another standard.

That's why I questioned HQs perspective on the outcome of the regional qualifiers, because they said those regions would come up with the standards and those athletes which performed best to those standards would compete in the games. To which now they are coming up with another standard to measure athletes preparedness to compete in the games..... blah blah blah, apparently I'm alone in this train of thought. I am probably wrongly applying glassmans "standards" model of measurable empirical data to the games.

26. Wendy Shafranski wrote...

Very cool! And what an amazing photo of Kevin Lowe!!!

27. Shane S wrote...

I predict this is going to be the hardest qualifier!

Since I'm studying abroad I would love to do it, but my globo gym membership just expired yesterday and I'm not getting a new one. If the WODs require any amount of equipment, I won't be able to do it.

28. Jason wrote...

I feel that the judges from the regional qualifiers should look at the athletes and pick a few who missed by just seconds. This would work well in deep talent qualifiers. The Socal qualifier had a very tight race with places 7-12 not far off at all from 2-6. If we are looking for the best games possible, this would be an easy way to do this.
J

29. JB - CrossFit SS wrote...

This is a logical evolution of the "Sport" of Fitness. In no way does this discredit the regional event organizers, nor their programming. Compare this logic with the NCAA tournament, where some teams who do not earn the right (via conference tournaments), but are invited to competet by the event organizers (via an "at large" bid).

Here, CrossFit is facilitating athletes that did not attend a qualifier...but they still have to earn the spot. And the number of these Open Qualifier spots is small enough that no one in their right mind is going to intentionally miss their regional in the future to try to snag one of these rare spots. I can understand people being upset about the timing of this being communicated. However, if your goal is to get the best field of athletes in Aromas, then this is absolutely logical.

Remember that the regional events are organized as stand alone competitions. Athletes compete against that particular field in that particular format on those particular days. An Open Qualifier is the same deal, albeit with a larger potential field.

30. JB - CrossFit SS wrote...

I also commend the community as a whole for critiquing and discussing these aspects of the Games publicly.

It has taken the PGA Tour, ATP/WTA (tennis), NASCAR, Action Sports and just about any other touring sport years and dozens of iterations before they find a system that is agreed upon (and somewhat understandable to the masses). There is always tweaking that happens behind the scenes.

We are tackling the issues head-on, and by any objective standards CrossFit is light years ahead of the curve as a fledgling sport organizing body.

31. Kevin replied to comment from Wendy Shafranski...

Uh...thanks for the compliment Wendy but lets not get carried away "amazing" nah...."painful"...sure

To quote my brother...."it looks like you were trying to speed skate or something"...and "is there a bunch of marshmellows in your mouth?" - Thanks bro.

Fun pic though. Also gonna take a crack at this video WOD thing. Have nothing to lose plus get to keep the training intensity up for another month which is a good thing.

I really hope the Dirty South gets a couple of athletes into the games via the video. Ken G and Wendy are names that quickly come to mind.

Good luck all yall.

K

32. CrossFitter wrote...

As newG and others have noted, there is (like with every sport) considerable discussion about how athletes qualify for competitions. It is reality (fair or not) that certain divisions, conferences, etc. may be more challenging than others. Having an 8-5 record in some regions puts you in the playoffs--in other regions, that'll send you home!

As another example of what's "fair" or not: to the best of my knowledge, every region but one has had two Saturday WODs and one Sunday WOD.
The "Dirty South" region had THREE Saturday WODs and one Sunday WOD.

Can we assume that the Dirty South qualifiers, on average, fitter athletes than those from other regions solely on the basis of the qualifiers?
Is it unfair to Dirty South athletes that they were asked to do four WODs in 48 hours when athletes in other regions were "only" asked to do three? (I would say no and no.)

Every sport (CrossFit included) has to do its best to promote equitable standards while acknowledging the unavoidable inequality (and unfairness) that is present in any athletic competition.

33. Matt wrote...

What is going to be the best method for the video?

I have a Sony hard drive video camera. Instant mpegs from the down load. I can't email that size file.

Someone please give me a heads up so I am prepared and not scrambling at the last minute.

I have an athlete who has only been CrossFitting for 2-1/2 months that I think would have qualified in SoCal. He had prior out of town commitments that kept him from competing. I was at the qualifiers a week later I put him through those workouts to the same standards and he was right there in the top 6 times. I was probably one of the thousands of emails Coach received regarding this option.

We welcome the opportunity.

Thanks in advance

34. Damon wrote...

I'm excited and grateful for the opportunity to qualify. I wasn't able to compete in the GB qualifiers so this gives me a chance to step up and give it my best shot. Thanks HQ!

35. Owen Satterley wrote...

Oh Yes! I missed the Euro Quals and I HAD set my sights on 2010 but this is a big lifeline...plus The Bullfrog would kick my ass if I didn't go for it!

36. Kimberly McLeish wrote...

OMG! This is awesome. My wedding date was on the same weekend of the qualifier, therefore I couldn't make it. Thank you for the second chance!!!

37. Steve Smith wrote...

I'm currently deployed and stoked that I'll have the chance to MAYBE qualify. Next step will be to try and convince my Chain of Command to let me leave country for a few days to compete.

Here's hoping.

Thanks for thinking of us, Crossfit.

38. Jen M wrote...

Any word on what is going on with this? Dates, what we need as far as video equipment etc...?? I am totally stoked for this!! Please update us and let us know what the details are ASAP!!

39. Walden replied to comment from CrossFitter...

Just to clarify, the Mid-Atlantic Quals also had 3 WODs on the first day. No disrespect to the Dirty South brothers, but we were right there with you!

Crossfit is not just a workout. It is a community, and we are seeing that here, in the discussion about this new concept offered up by HQ. Healthy discussion and debate will evolve who we are and what represent. I welcome the new and innovative, it makes us work harder!

Waldo

40. Steve Smith 28YOM/5'10''/190# wrote...

Just thinking through how this may work out (no pun intended). Really going to try fit this in to our schedule here in Baghdad, but considering the limited equipment that we have, I'm concerned that the exercises could become an issue.

Please do keep the target audience in mind when choosing the workouts. I realize requesting anything specific would be ridiculous, but items like a glute-ham developer just aren't available in Iraq.

I'm sure you've already considered the limitations of this type of qualification, but I would hate to not even get a chance to make it out of the starting blocks simply because we don't have rowers in our gyms here!

Here's hoping.

Steve