Are you ready to test your fitness?
The 2023 CrossFit Games season is almost upon us, and the newer Open format continues in just a few weeks. With new faces and plenty of programming under our belts, we’re excited to once again test our fitness as a community. In our annual in-house competition, we’ll continue our popular Intramural game!
Wait, I’m new, what is the CrossFit Open?
If you are new to CrossFit, the CrossFit Open is a 3-week challenge consisting of 1 workout each week that allows athletes to see where they stack up in relation to the rest of the world. It’s like a benchmark every single week to see where you are on your fitness journey. Each WOD has its own vibe, just like the workouts we do each week. The workouts will be released every Thursday evening during the three weeks, and you can watch the live announcement of the workout streaming on the CrossFit Games website. We’ll also be broadcasting them at the gym, so it’s a great time to come and casually hang out while the elites of the sport tackle the workouts first.
After the workout is released, any athlete who has officially registered for the CrossFit Open will have until 5 p.m. PT on the following Monday to submit their score to their team captain or to games.crossfit.com if officially registered.
Okay, so a competition, got it. Why tho?
Well, big picture and at its most functional level, the CrossFit Games Open is now one of many qualifying stages for the best of the best to make it to the CrossFit Games.
But just like CrossFit, it’s a great test for everyone’s skills and fitness. This matters because it can reinvigorate your motivation, help identify areas of weakness to further set new goals, and even push you to a new PR!
But I’m new, I’m not ready, right?
The Open workouts are tough, but they are written so that any and every CrossFitter can be successful. Meaning? There’s no excuse not to participate! And with our in-house intramural, you can enjoy a fun, collaborative competition. It’s a fun way to bond with the community and find new training partners. We program the Open Workouts for all Friday classes anyway, so you might as well! Plus who doesn’t want to be a part of a kickass team with a little in-house bragging on the table?
I’m not new, why not skip this year?
How about the chance to really push yourself to that place? You know that place. We all know how easy it is to get comfortable and complacent. The Open is also a great way to “reset” your adherence to standards and work on virtuosity.
We also hear from many of you wanting to do competitions but not feeling ready to sign up yet. Want to talk about perfect circumstances — this is it! You’ll have the support of all your favorite coaches and fellow athletes, with no judgment or worrying about being embarrassed. You will surprise yourself by doing more than you thought possible. Fitness is always better with friends.
Okay, we have your attention. Let’s talk about the Intramural
If you’ve been here in the past, our format has some slight change-ups this year. We will have 4 teams and our assigned captains (2 per team) will choose their teams based on the amount of Fringies who register.
Captains and teams will have a private Facebook group for their team for communication and collaboration on different events and themes throughout the Open. This is one of the most fun parts of the Open! Have we mentioned that people have fallen in love during the Open Intramural Competition at Fringe? True story, they got married.
Our Theme This Year
Our theme this year is “Harry Potter.” Why Harry Potter? Well, who hasn’t fallen a little in love with the characters, world-building, storytelling, and cultural phenomenon just a little over the years? We thought it would be fun to base teams around the houses, and get a little into our favorite characters, mythical creatures, historical references, and magic a little more. Plus we’ve created CrossFit-inspired names for all the houses, so this is about to get just a little ridiculous in the best way possible.
Our confirmed captains:
- Ashleigh Layer
- Vesta Hotchkiss
- Kels Schwartz
- Rebekah Lass
- Kara Parker
- James Graves
- Josh Moore
- Sara Mocker
- John Jordan
The 2023 Intramural Schedule
- Preparation
- January 9th Registration opens and this blog post is LIVE! Sign up to enter our Intramural Open draft pool.
- January 16th – Intramural Facebook Live Q&A in the Facebook Group
- February 2nd – Registration deadline to ensure you have a t-shirt/tank
- Open Workout 23.1
- February 16th: 23.1 Announcement/Throwdown between Coaches on opposite teams
- February 17th: 23.1 Friday Night Lights
- Open Workout 23.2
- February 23rd: 23.2 Announcement/Throwdown TBD
- February 24th: 23.2 Friday Night Lights
- Open Workout 23.3
- March 2nd: 23.3 Announcement/Throwdown TBD
- March 3rd: 23.3 Friday Night Lights
- 15th Anniversary Party
- March 11, 2023: More details coming soon!
Your next steps: Register for the Open Intramural by February 2
You must register by February 2nd (to ensure you get a team shirt). The admission price for the Intramural Open is only $40 with CrossFit Fringe, and includes a team t-shirt/tank, as well as food and beverage at our end of the Open 15th Anniversary Party (more details coming!).
Additionally, as is tradition, the money collected will buy new toys we know you’ll like — because the winning team will help pick what to purchase! In years past we have added Ski Ergs, Bikes, Sandbags, more DBs, and other pieces of equipment. Whatever we can acquire to make your experience better, we will! In 2021, we even took all of the funds we raised and donated them to a Fringe family in need!
Past winners of this prestigious award are:
2015 – Invasion of the Body Snatchers
2016 – The Walking Deadlifts
2017 – T-RX Assassins
2018 – RX Pistols
2019 – Open Bingo
2020 – Team Aqua
2021 – Squirt, Squirt – Wipe, Wipe
2022 – Dawn Patrol
We are excited about the 9th year of this special in-house competition. Coaches Nate Bacott and Tyler Lasley are your go-to for judging and for all things Intramural. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to them, or get with us on Facebook or email.