Well, it’s a wrap… the 2015 CrossFit Games completed this past weekend with quite a left hook to the individual athletes. As a biased endurance-junky-in-my-former-life, I loved the addition of the long swim, Murph*, and the never-ending run/yoke carry events…but that’s nothing compared to that skill required at the end.
And by left hook, I’m referring to the finale including Peg Board climbing. That sucker left many of the most talented and strongest competitors… helpless.
Was this fair?
It certainly would have been a more interesting spectator viewing experience (and a better race) if the athletes were allowed to do a practice run-thru… but that wasn’t the intent of the event.
The intent was to find out who adapts to a challenge, learning on the spot to figure out how to maneuver those effin’ pegs up – and back down – a tall, hot, slippery wall.
And who pegged best?
Amanda Goodman handled the movement like a pro. Actually, it was f*cking amazing how she tackled that beast. F*ing awesome. (Heavey had the pleasure of training beside her at OPEX in the past. Pretty exceptional athlete.)
Now the CrossFit Games prides itself in crowning the fittest on Earth- and in reality, it’s the person who can adapt, who can hang on, who can be “good” at everything, and who can recover well enough to make it through another event.
Many people couldn’t hang…for the women- the leaderboard was quite a shake-up…and the fittest survived the grueling four days of competition.
Bring on the training… for the known, and the unknowable.
…And I predict there will be a lot of CF gyms ordering Rogue Peg Boards in the near future…
-Nicole
*I have my own personal thoughts on the safety of the competitors completing Murph in the heat of the day in a weight vest…only to be followed shortly after by a heavy snatch ladder. I won’t get into my thoughts on programming here, but Dr Adam Schulte shared an interesting first-hand perspective.
