Who’s Competing at Wodapalooza?

December 27   |   POWERED BY

Good morning and welcome to the Morning Chalk Up. Hopefully, you had a restful holiday weekend filling up on barbells, food and family time.

In today’s edition:

• Rogue announces winners in their challenge series.
• Who’s competing at Wodapalooza so far?
• CrossFit holds its first indigenous dialogue.
• The 2022 CrossFit Games rulebook is here.
• Who are the top female athletes to never podium?

“When life gives you Monday, dip it in glitter and sparkle all day.” - Ella Woodword

CrossFit Holds Inaugural Indigenous Dialogue

In mid-November, CrossFit held its first-ever Indigenous dialogue. 14 CrossFitters – including members of the Indigenous community and seminar staff – brought together by Dr. Roger Boyer II, gathered to bring recognition to Indigenous Crossfitters and discuss the potential impact of and future for the sport in these communities.

• “We were in the [CrossFit] space,” said Boyer, a citizen of the Anishinabek Nation, who began CrossFit a few years ago, losing 150 pounds in the process, “And didn’t see anyone that looked like us. When you go to boxes and different gyms, you begin to look for people who look like you, talk like you… and you start to ask, ‘Are there any Indigenous athletes out there?’”

One big thing: By starting this project, the hope is that CrossFit can bring results for Indigenous communities in ways beyond fitness, giving them a “whoality” of mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical gains.

• Boyer explained: “By using CrossFit and our community and the belonging and the love we have, we hope many more can find that same sense of belonging in fitness and in fun, but most of all in the community and loving in our families.

Key Takeaways

1. Increasing the visualization of Indigenous athletes: “We can be an equitable player, like many of the other nations, so our flags one day walk into that arena,” Boyer said, touching on the CrossFit Games. “In the Olympic games, our people are starting to come out and be recognized. Why not CrossFit and why not us?”

The community also hopes to see more representation in CrossFit-made promotional materials and instructional videos.

2. Addressing chronic issues: According to the Encyclopedia of Canada, Indigenous peoples have disproportionately poorer health. A report from the National Center for Biotechnology Information listed obesity in First Nations as 60% higher than other Canadians; Type 2 diabetes is one of the most widespread illnesses to impact these communities.

Boyer himself was living that life. When he found CrossFit, Boyer was prediabetic, prehypertensive, and had a BMI over 40.

“To be fat was a never traditional value,” Boyer said. “We were subsistent livers. We lived off the land… we harvested everything we had. We were active. We were a fit culture.”

“We can use the CrossFit methodology to erode chronic disease and create [a sense of] belonging,” Boyer continued. “For our men…we can become warriors again. We can find our strength, we can understand what it means to be a humble, loving warrior.”

3. Helping those that find trouble: In addition to health, members in the dialogue brought up the benefit of CrossFit for Indigenous people struggling with judicial sanctions and substance abuse. CrossFit can help those that “like to find trouble or trouble likes to find them,” Boyer said.

4. Accessibility: Members of the discussion are looking for accessibility from all points: inclusivity, pricing, and scalability.

Indigenous populations in Canada experience lower income levels than other Canadians (A 2016 census reported 80% of reserves had a median income below the poverty line), which can turn them away from the program. Creating an atmosphere where Indigenous communities understand that CrossFit will meet them where they are – financially, athletically, via community – is key.

Their next step is to hold an Indigenous seminar and scholarship weekend in partnership with Chuck Carswell and the CrossFit Scholarship Program. There is no date set yet, but Boyer says the dialogue with CrossFit will be kept open to plan for the Spring of 2022.

• In early 2022, a similar scholarship program will be held at Powell CrossFit in Arizona, helping Alleia King, the first Navajo/Diné coach, and Paul Baughman, the owner of Powell CrossFit, offer L1 certification opportunities to Navajo CrossFitters.

• King and Powell also plan to be a part of this dialogue.

• Boyer hopes to connect more Indigenous CrossFitters to this project and continue dialogue via email, noting that they “want to see the circle grow.”

Indigenous Dialogue Members:

• Dr. Roger Boyer II (Anishinabek Nation)
• Brad McMillan (Mi’kmaq Nation; Founder and Owner of The Pound)
• Kris and Kristin Sylliboy (Mi’kmaq Nation; Authors of the 215 tribute WOD)
• Kyle Labelle (Owner, CrossFit Cornwall)
• Jonathan Julian (Millbrook First Nation)
• Pete Shaw (CrossFit Seminar Staff )
• Ariane Wilson (Heiltsuk Nation)
• Kell Morrisey (Inuk)
• Landon Walters (First Nations Law)
• Paul Tremblay (Owner, CrossFit NCR; CrossFit Country Manager for Canada)
• Mason C. Alberts (Member, CrossFit DEI Council)
• Elaine Marino (Global Head of Diversity Equity and Inclusion, CrossFit)
• Chuck Carswell (CrossFit Seminar Staff)

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Follow this 👉@ Heatonminded, the stats-based account dedicated to tracking and following CrossFit Games-related stats and analysis was deleted without explanation last week and lost its nearly 50K followers.

Dani Speegle signed on with TruGrit Fitness, joining Danielle Brandon and Elijah Muhammad.

• Matt Piva, Co-Founder and CEO: “One of our favorite things about Dani is that she is authentic, hard-working, confident and has an electric personality.”

Who’s competing at Wodapalooza? Here are the individual and teams we know are competing so far. We will be updating this list daily as names are released.

• Roster.

2021 Rogue Challenge winners were announced. Athletes competed across various challenges throughout the year each with their own cash prize. At the end of the year, the top three athletes across all events won $15,000, $10,000 and $5,000.

1. Colten Mertens | Taylor Williamson
2. Joel Moore | Joanna Kawalec
3. Nate Molby | Carolyne Prevost

Brianna Battles, the designer of online programs for pregnant and postpartum athletes, is now hiring an Operations Manager.

The 2022 CrossFit Games Season Rulebook Has Arrived

Last week, CrossFit released the complete rulebook and drug testing policy for the 2022 CrossFit Games season, which officially begins with the CrossFit Open on February 24, 2022. 

One big thing: In recent years, this is the earliest the season rulebook has been released, a full 15 days earlier than 2021. CrossFit has made a concerted effort to publish information sooner most notably the very early announcement of the 2022 Open start date which was revealed back in July. 

What you need to know: Most of the key changes from last season have already been noted, and given the holiday last week, we’re still moving through all the details and we’ll be following up this week with a more in-depth analysis. 

• The CrossFit Open is still three weeks long and starts February 24. 
• You can now complete any Open workout with a registered judge who can validate your score allowing you to compete outside of an affiliate or recording a video. 
• Age group divisions will now compete in the quarterfinal stage. For the semifinal stage, age groups will be split and compete on two separate weekends. 
• Adaptive divisions will also have a second online qualifier event. However, all adaptive divisions will automatically advance to the Semifinals. \

It’s worth noting that the 10 independent semifinal hosts have not yet been revealed. 

Go deeper:

• ​​Dave Castro Done with Open Announcements
• The 2022 CrossFit Games Season Schedule

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Celebrating a PR, hosting a fundraiser, this, that, or otherwise. Send us a tip.

• 🎂 Happy birthday, Julie Hougard Nielsen + Belated birthday wishes to Roman Khrennikov, Christmas Abbott, and Carol-Ann Reason-Tibault on December 20th.
• 🤯 14-year-old Champ-Pacifique Mukiza of Iowa hit a 385 pound/175kg deadlift PR.
• Underdog Athletics’ Alex Gazan hit a power clean PR of 240 pounds/109kg.
• 🇺🇸 Congratulations to Mallory Tse on her first bobsled race for Team USA at the Lake Placid Olympic Sports Complex in New York!
• Allison Lamay stood up a 215 pound/98kg clean for a new PR.
• Anthony Patnode of Austin, TX crushed a new deadlift PR of 350 pounds/113kg.
• Sabrina Atterbom, another Underdog athlete, pulled 320 pounds/145kg from the ground for a deadlift PR of +35 pounds!

On December 16th, Typhoon Odette hit the Philippines, and with it, CrossFit Siargao and CrossFit Subtero. The deadly tropical storm completely destroyed much of Siargao Island, killing at least 375 people and leaving many without running water, electricity, cell or internet service.

• Gabe Mendoza, a coach at the now destroyed CrossFit Siargao in Surigao del Norte said nobody from his gym was killed or injured, “but the box was destroyed.”
• A crowdfunding campaign has been set up to provide financial support to both gyms as they rebuild.

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