Ready for the hottest days of training?With Murph, Regionals, and our latest programming cycle under our belt, we can now head into our new cycle with all the motivation we’ve taken from the best athletes in the world. What’s in store for this month? Check out the June Newsletter!
Ava Kitzi Joins Staff
We are so excited to announce that this Summer, though still in middle school, Ava Kitzi is prepared to make the most of her internship. She will assist a few hours a week primarily at East and will occasionally be at West. If you don’t know Ava, she’s the daughter of one of our coaches Matt Kitzi. Ava is an aspiring CrossFitter with a ton of talent, a crazy-impressive work ethic and brains to match it all. Please be sure to welcome Ava as you see her around. She’s going to be a big part of Fringe as she continues to grow within the community and sport!
Murph Recap
What an exciting turn-out as always! In just numbers:
- Attendance: We had 100+ participants, making it our biggest year yet!
- Total money raised: $450 through the sale of shirts and another $50 from Fringe to bring the total to $500!
- Fastest time: Grant Schottel coming in just under 40 mins for the full RX version! Smoking Fast!
Regional Recap
For the third year as an individual, Brooke Wells competed against some of the best athletes in the world at the Central Regional down in Nashville, Tenn. With a fierce group of individuals in what is being dubbed the most competitive regional, this year featured an incredible group of talented and motivated athletes. Fringe represented well, with more than 20 people going to show her support!
Day one started out about as rough as you can imagine. Event 1 was blisteringly fast and Brooke appeared uncharacteristically worn out early on. It was her worst finish of the weekend, 15th place. It seems she suffered from heat exhaustion from the vest and that lead to her struggle in the event. But if you know Brooke, you know she never has a completely smooth Regional appearance! She fought back in Event 2 to end the day tied for 10th place.
Day two was clearly a different day, “moving day” as they call it — where athletes fight to make headway on the leaderboard. And Brooke’s performance reminded everyone that she is the real deal. With a 5th place on Event 3, she moved up into podium contention.
Then came Event 4. And all ll I can say is, “Whoa!” If you watch anything from the weekend, catch the replay of this event. Brooke absolutely smashed the entire field! With a dominating performance, beating her closest competitor by almost a minute, she set a new event record for all regions! She climbed back into the top 5 and was there to stay.
Day three started off with a gymnastics-heavy event. Brooke hasn’t always been the strongest at high volume muscle-ups, but an 11th place finish was very respectable for her. Unfortunately, that made the race to be top 5 incredibly tight with only one event remaining. In typical Brooke fashion, being the resilient competitor she is, she knew exactly what she had to do. She had to crush the last event to punch her ticket to her third trip to the Games. While the stress level was high, the event was definitely in her wheelhouse. Out of the gate she paced well, knowing the workout wasn’t won or lost on the bike. She moved consistently and fast through the burpee box jump overs, before really turning it on for the heavy sandbag cleans. Finishing the event second only to Sara Sigmundsdottir (both women beating the previous event record), she officially made back to the CrossFit Games with an overall 4th place finish. It was clear by her face at the finish that she knew she had made it.
We’ve been fortunate to watch Brooke grow year after year, and we couldn’t be more proud of the athlete she’s become. One of the fittest, toughest competitors in the world – she’s still gracious, humble, and a highly respected part of Fringe community.
Congratulations Brooke on your hard-earned and well-deserved third trip to the Games! We can’t wait to cheer you on in Madison, WI! Who’s ready?
Comp Programming
As we alluded to in last month’s newsletter and Tyler discussed in the latest programming talk, it’s our hope to expand our current program into competitive athlete programming. We’ve heard your requests and we know in order to grow within Columbia and the greater CrossFit community competitive athlete programming is an area we need to serve more intentionally.
Without further ado, here’s the official announcement: Competitive Programming comes to CrossFit Fringe!
Because we believe that our current class programming should be the foundation for every athlete, the competitive programming will work in tandem. The competitive athlete programming (comp group) can be done either before or after classes and during Open Gym time. Our comp group will be 100 percent Inclusive. You can find the Comp Programming in SugarWOD on a separate track. It will be accessible to any member who wants to pursue it, and unlike other boxes will have no added cost. We are set to kick off our comp group programming following our Murph and testing week on June 5. More info can be found in the blog post.
Oly Programm
In addition to the comp group programming, we’re also adding a 12-week Olympic Lifting Program/Cycle. This is another option our members have requested and are happy to offer it to everyone. This program was very popular at East under the leadership of Mitch Johnson (Thanks again, Mitch!). This time, the programming will be lead by coach, Matt Fitzgerald, or “Fitz” as you probably know him.
The class will meet two times a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 6 p.m. at Fringe West. The class will run for roughly 90 minutes and will include one day of programmed homework to be completed on your own during Open Gym hours. We will also have online progress tracking via Google Docs.There are only eight spots available for this program, so act fast if you are interested! More info and guidelines can be found on the blog post. You can sign-up by emailing [email protected].
CrossFit Kids Camp
This camp will be lead by Coach Mitch Stout as well as a host of other coaches and assistant junior camp counselors!
- Dates: July 24 through 28 at Fringe West | Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and Friday from 2 to 6 p.m.
- Price: Fringe Member – $150 / Non-Member – $200
More details are coming in a separate blog post, but if you’d like to sign up, please email [email protected].
Upcoming Events
We’ve got some great Saturday Seminars in the works, dates, and topics coming in the next few weeks. So far we have pull-ups on the menu! Have requests, let us know!
Housekeeping
We have purchased new bands for both locations. There is also a new band holder for West and a new jump rope holder for East. We’ve fixed all of the bikes. New climbing ropes have also been ordered! On tap is the hanging of the intramural trophy at West, hanging of new CrossOver Symmetry cords at both locations as well as a ton of smaller details to go! We also have a new crop of shirts available for pre-order. Choose your favorites (or buy them all like I do) by June 16.
As always, if you see a piece of equipment that is broken or not functioning properly, tell us as soon as possible so we can quickly make repairs and get it back online.
From the Questions/Comment Box
Q: When will West have a new sign? The old sign is confusing for new members.
From Tyler: I’m so glad you asked! We know the old signage can make new people feel like they are in the wrong place and may feel like we’re being disrespectful. The truth is, a good sign is expensive. Reallllly expensive! We saw the sign as an outside investment which took a backseat to serving our members. We opted to bring more parity to the equipment at both locations (think of all the upgrades since December) first. We want the member experience at West to be the same at East. There are always ongoing behind the scenes updates and maintenance as well. We hope to have the new signage soon, maybe even with an official ribbon cutting!
Have a question or comment for the box? Leave us some mail!
Coach’s Spotlight: Mark Taylor
Q: Mark, we hear you kind of like CrossFit and that you’re pretty good at it? What got you started?
M: I first saw CrossFit at the Rec (Mizzou), and saw that Rich Froning was 5’9 and 195. That was my height and weight so I figured I would be pretty good at it.
Q: When you’re not looking like a luxurious male model (aside: anyone else think he looks like Chris Pratt? Maybe? Just me?), what do you do for a career?
M: I’m a male nurse like Gaylord Focker.
Q: Random Fact: You seem to sweat a lot and sometimes we’re surprised to hear the noises you can make, sometimes it sounds a bit like a walrus. What’s the furthest you’ve managed to get your sweat to fly from the GHD?
M: An easy 20 feet.
Q: On a more serious note, what is your motivating thought to keep you going in a WOD?
M: Just breathe and don’t be a bitch.
Q: If you could work out with a Games athlete (other than Brooke of course), who would it be, and why?
M: Marcus Filly since he’s an animal and a Greek god.
Q: What do you enjoy doing outside of CrossFit?
M: I enjoy eating ice cream with Jilly Vanilly and watching Game of Thrones.
Q: What’s the worst thing you’ve ever done at work… everyday? (His nursing job is what this is going to lead to)
M: Almost every day I fart in my patient’s room and blame it on them — oops.Have an amazing month of love, lifts, and GAINS! As always, if you need anything, you can reach out to us on social media, or email [email protected].