The New Household Name in CrossFit

Good morning and welcome to the weekend edition of the Morning Chalk Up. This is Justin LoFranco, your Editor-in-Chief to bring you a quick wrap-up of the major news items throughout the week. Today’s edition is brought to you by the Mountain Meltdown.

The Mountain Meltdown is how CrossFitters do 5k. From the mind of CrossFit Legend Chris Spealler and his ICON team comes a CrossFit Community event with rigs, sound, and party!

Athletes will cover a course over five kilometers of trails that push, pedal, and run up and down. Ski Resorts and Mountain Facilities in Utah, the Twin Cities, and Wilmot Mountain outside Chicago/Milwaukee provide elevation upon which we will lovingly season five “quick” and “simple” Classic High Output WODs.

“Don’t be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.” — John D. Rockefeller

Hunter McIntyre.

He wasn’t a household name until, well, he was.

A few weeks ago we shared that Hunter was campaigning hard for one of the Wildcards that Greg Glassman put up for grabs. He’s been traveling around the world to train with Games athletes and get coached by their coaches. Then, in an interview with Armen Hammer, Glassman announced that he’d give Hunter the “Blowhard Card.”

Suddenly, everyone had something to say.

Then, Hunter actually got the invite. 

Like it or not, he’s going to the Games. When Mat Fraser, Brent Fikowski, Pat Vellner and Cole Sager show up, Hunter will be there. He’ll be in the athlete briefing. He’ll line up in the athlete corrals. People will wear shirts with his name on them and they’ll cheer when he runs out onto that field. 

If anything, you can’t say all these changes haven’t been exciting.

Whether you think Hunter should be there or not, or that he “earned” it or not, one thing is for sure.

We’re going to cover it all and we’re pumped to show up on day one to a couple of fresh faces and a healthy dose of trash talking.

Get out there and get in some fitness,

Jessica Danger

Managing Editor

After Greg Glassman basically agreed to extend the “blowhard card” invite during an interview with Armen Hammer, Hunter McIntyre received his official invite to compete at the 2019 CrossFit Games this week.

Hunter McIntyre got the official nod from Greg Glassman this week, bring an onset of both criticism and praise. But this is not actually the first time we’ve seen something like this. Here’s the history of CrossFit invites and wildcards. 

CrossFit Neuro is the first CrossFit box inside a hospital in the southern hemisphere. Joanne and David Johnson opened shop in 2017, determined to address the cause of chronic back pain.

There are only nine remaining CrossFit Games spots left to be determined, and six of them will be up for grabs this weekend at the Granite Games and CrossFit Lowlands Throwdown. Here are the men, women and teams to keep an eye on this weekend.

Glen ‘BUB’ Doherty was one of the four Americans killed in a terror attack in Benghazi, Libya on September 12, 2012. As part of his lasting legacy, friends went on to launch a foundation in his name and then launched BUBS Naturals, all to continue his legacy of health and adventure.

It seems like everyone was either recovering from Murph or preparing for the two Sanctionals this weekend. But a lot happened this week. Let us help you get caught up.

1. Our Founder and Editor-in-Chief, Justin LoFranco, caught up with Greg Glassman on Grandma’s couch. 
2. Rule number one this weekend: Work smarter, not harder.
3. Jason Carroll is pulling out all the stops to get Nike’s attention.
4. And this, friends, is how you do Murph.
5. Happy one-week birthday to Scotti Saunders. 
6. Jacob and Kelli Heppner spent some time avoiding tornadoes in a basement. Hilarity ensued.
7. And, for a longer read, here is how Shane Orr and Tia-Clair Toomey met. It’s a story, for sure.