“It is not enough to have a good mind; the main thing is to use it well.”- Rene Descartes
GOOD
Edmonton Gym Owner Loses Everything in House Fire, CrossFit Community Raises $15,000 and Counting
At 3:45 a.m. on October 17, Edmonton, Alberta gym owner Dillian Carnegie was woken up when one of his two rescue dogs began barking.
“It’s pretty uncommon for my dogs to bark,” said Carnegie, the owner of Triform Athletics in Edmonton.
“So we got up and you could just see orange outside.”
The orange was from the flames that had engulfed he and his partner Todd Hulse’s family home.
“From there it was just grab the dogs, the cat and our identification and get out,” Carnegie explained.
The fire, which is still under police investigation today, went on to destroy “basically everything,” Carnegie said, except a couple dumbbells.
“Typical gym owners, salvaging gym equipment,” he joked.
Although he’s able to make jokes, the experience has been anything but comical and has led to a ton of uncertainty in he and Hulse’s life. The couple is currently staying in a rental home nearby and is hoping their home will be rebuilt, but only so they can sell it because there’s “no way we’re going back there,” Carnegie said.
He added: “Describing the experience is not so easy and tough to put into words. You work your entire life and build for over 30 years and within an hour it’s in flames and you’re not sure where to begin. We are incredibly lucky everyone was safe and no one was hurt.”
The CrossFit Community Steps Up
When Terry Butchart—a coach at nearby gym CrossFit Au in Sherwood Park, Alberta and a member of the local emergency services department that responded to the fire—heard about what happened to Carnegie, he knew he needed to do something to help.
So he set up a GoFundMe page to help raise funds for Carnegie and Hulse, a page that quickly raised more than CA$15,000, and is still collecting money today.
Carnegie does have insurance, but he isn’t sure how everything will play out, and he is currently still paying condo fees despite his house having been destroyed.
And although Carnegie said, “We are going to be OK,” he is also incredibly grateful for, not just the financial help from the CrossFit community, but from the overwhelming support at large.
“The gym community has been great and extremely supportive…Lots have donated to the GoFundMe, or help with animals, or a place to stay for a bit. I joke around a lot and realize if we can’t laugh about stuff it will haunt us, so I made a joke about only having one pair of underwear and the next thing you know I have more than one,” he said.
On a more serious note, Carnegie added: “It’s extremely overwhelming and will take a long time to repair. We are one of the fortunate ones, with a huge support system and so much to look forward to. As tough as it is today, it will get easier and lives can be restored over time.”
“The CrossFit world was the quickest to step up and it’s something we won’t forget.”
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In case you missed it: Lauren Kalil, the host of The Bottom Line, spoke to Zelos Games founder Jared Graybeal about the Las Vegas-based competition that kicks off this weekend: “I’m huge on transparency… and that’s how I want to run this.”
Grab a cup of joe: Tune in this Friday live at 9am CT for Coffee Break Conversations, where Morning Chalk Up’s Preslie Hirsch will be chatting with Tasia Percevecz. We’ll be talking about her pivot to entrepreneurship and nutrition coaching and helping athletes optimally fuel. ☕️
Super cool: WHOOP has teamed up with TYR for a smart swimsuit, which is pretty amazing in terms of new sports wearable technology.
Local love: Great piece in the Dawson Creek Mirror about a local CrossFit gym in Northern British Columbian hosting a two-day event.
Over/under: Battle Cancer founder Scott Britton, who is also a CrossFit coach and athlete, says digital workouts are overrated. Agree or disagree?
LIFESTYLE
MEMBER EXCLUSIVE
The How to Travel Like a Boss Guide: Fit and Healthy Holiday Planning for Restaurants and Workouts
The holiday season is approaching. Are you going to stay on track with your nutrition? Are you going to be able to keep up with your fitness? How are you going to do this while traveling, going to restaurants, gathering with family and friends? Let’s talk about the ultimate way to set yourself up for success:
“If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.” – Benjamin Franklin
This can seem obvious, tedious, and the most annoying task. But you know what else is annoying? Forgetting your goals, feeling bad or guilty for yourself, and feeling you have to start all the way over, come January 1st, 2023.
Through the next few pieces I have gathered for you the best tips and tricks I’ve seen work well for a variety of clients. The good news is you don’t have to do all of the examples listed in each section. Simply pick the ones you know you will be able to accomplish.
Don’t forget to meet yourself where you are with this.
European Championships Update: The Show Will Go On
Last week, The European Championships organizer Carl Saville sent out an email to the 2022 podium athletes, essentially putting it to them to decide whether or not they would support a 2023 competition in attempts to raise enough revenue to pay the unpaid 2022 prize purse. The other option was to “hand the event over to the liquidators.”
This week, Saville confirmed via email that the athletes have spoken and are “massively in favor of the proposal,” and that there “has only been one rejection so far.”
Thus, it’s “highly likely,” Saville wrote, that they will go through with a 2023 competition, hoping it will be the answer to the “large amount of debt” he accumulated in 2022 rendering him unable to pay out the promised £40,000 prize purse.
Remind me: At the end of September, Saville informed the athletes who competed at European Championships in Nottingham, England in August, that he was seeking solutions, including finding more sponsors, bringing on investors, or possibly trying to sell the event to pay the outstanding debt.
When he failed to do the above, he proposed anew solution last week, that included hosting another event in 2023 with a potentially larger prize purse that would depend on the number of tickets sold, but in no means would guarantee he will be able to raise enough to payout the 2022 prize purse. The proposal:
100% stadium sell out = £100,000 prize pot
90% stadium sell out = £80,000 prize pot
80% stadium sell out = £60,000 prize pot
70% stadium sell out = £40,000 prize pot
60% stadium sell out = £20,000 prize pot
He then essentially let the athletes vote, saying: “If the larger percentages of you wish against this, then of course we will respect your collective decision and hand the event over to the liquidators, as the above option would only work with everyone’s approval. Therefore please reply to this email with your preferred option and we will make the announcement before the 18th November.”
It’s worth noting that the most recent email also alluded to other people Saville owes money to.
“Of course the details in the proposal itself also apply to all crew who are owed money too,” the email said.
The Big Picture: The athletes have spoken and want the show to go on, so it’s looking like the European Championships will be hosting a 2023 event. More details are coming, Saville promised, but his intention is to “start making these repayments” from money he’s hoping to raise from an upcoming online qualifier.
The fittest beach party is back this January in Miami, and with qualifiers completed, we now have a better idea of who’s confirmed to be celebrating at TYR Wodapalooza 2023 and leaving it all out there for a piece of that $500,000 prize purse.
Some athletes receive invitations to compete based on a variety of criteria related to other competition placings. But for the rest of us, the online qualifier is the ticket to earning a chance to throw down under the bright Florida lights. And, don’t forget that this is the first year that athletes could compete in both individual and team divisions, given that they’re on different days.
For individuals, there’s several divisions to keep your eye on: Elite, Rx, Intermediate, Scaled, Adaptive Rx, Adaptive Scaled and Age Groups (13-15,16-18, 35-39, 40-44, 45-49, 50-54, 55-59, 60+). It is not yet confirmed how many total athletes will be competing or how many invites were sent, but here’s what we know so far for the Elite division.
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Congratulations to Jacob Heppner and Tristin Burris on taking home first place in the elite men’s and women’s fields of the 2022 Tactical Games Nationals this past weekend in Florence, TX.
Kevin Ogar, Olympic Para Powerlifter and Owner of CrossFit WatchTower, hit a lifetime bench press PR of 441 pounds/200kg.
Congratulations Jenn Galemmo from Kentucky on the 308 pound/140kg front squat PR.
Margaux Alvarez calls these ice cream makers, we call them impressive.
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