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🌴 Gymreapers Wodapalooza SoCal Unveils a New Elite Showdown

August 18th, 2026

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Good morning and welcome to the Morning Chalk Up.

In today’s edition:

  • ⚔️🔥 Gymreapers Wodapalooza SoCal introduces the “Battle of the Camps.”

  • 🎤 Finding her voice — eight years after starting CrossFit at 400 pounds, Cristina Anderson stepped onto the floor at the 2026 CrossFit Games to sing the national anthem.

QUOTE OF THE DAY
❝

Now, if my daughter says, ‘Mom, I want to go for a hike,’ I can do that. I signed up for a HYROX at the last minute, just jumped in, and did it. The options of what I can do are now endless, and that’s the coolest part.”

Cristina Anderson, CF-L4, on how different her life is since she found CrossFit and lost more than 200 pounds.
COMPETITIONS

“Battle of the Camps” – Brute, PRVN, TTT, and the Outcasts Set to Collide at Gymreapers WZA SoCal

Credit: Scott Freymond

After two years of WZA Sport’s annual TYR Cup, the event’s format has shifted for 2026, as Gymreapers has taken over as the title sponsor for the overall event. To replace the TYR Cup, this season Gymreapers Wodapalooza SoCal will host “Battle of the Camps.” 

  • Instead of two competing teams, there will be four. Instead of members chosen based on their nationality, members will represent their training camps. 

The weekend’s intention will remain the same – a festival celebrating both elite and community athletes over the course of one weekend – a perfect counterpoint to the Miami Beach edition. 

Remind Me 

In 2024, the TYR Cup debuted, featuring athletes competing in two teams: North America and the World. We cheered as athletes such as Tia-Clair Toomey and Aimee Cringle went head-to-head against Arielle Loewen and Danielle Brandon. Iceland’s BKG and Spain’s Aniol Ekai battled Americans Justin Medeiros and Dallin Pepper. 

  • Some of our favorite moments from the past two years were Brent Fikowski and Dallin Pepper’s all-out echo bike sprint in 2024. Tasked with completing 50 calories for time, the two tied at 38 seconds. When speaking to Pepper after the event, he shared that it was quite possibly the most grueling workout he had ever completed.

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SPEED READS

❤️💪 â€œI Do CrossFit”: Five months after starting CrossFit Kids, Jewell Colman was hit by a car and suffered devastating injuries that doctors feared she might never recover from. Now 14, she’s back playing sports and training, and her family credits CrossFit with giving her not just physical strength, but the resilience and mindset that helped carry her through an unimaginable recovery.

💰📈 Fitness Is Having a Funding Moment: Fitness and wellness startups have already raised $3.6 billion this year, according to Crunchbase data, as investors pour money into everything from connected fitness and recovery to longevity and health tech — a sign that despite broader funding headwinds, the business of helping people live healthier and perform better remains a hot bet.

📅🔥 The Countdown Is On: CrossFit has announced the dates for the 2027 Open, giving athletes their target as the road to next season officially begins.

ICYMI: No Rookies in the Top 10: A CrossFit Games First (Rx article)

MEMBER EXCLUSIVE

“I Do Belong Here”: How Cristina Anderson Found Her Voice at the CrossFit Games

Credit:@emomphoto / Instagram

Eight years ago, if Cristina Anderson had been asked to sing the national anthem at the CrossFit Games, it would have been a hard no.

Not because she lacked confidence in her singing. And not even because she would have been scared to sing in front of thousands of people. She would have said no because she wouldn’t have felt comfortable in that room.

At the time, Anderson weighed 400 pounds.

  • “I believed that I didn’t belong in a room like that, simply because so many fit people were in that room. I would have never imagined being allowed in that room,” she said.

Today, though, things look a bit different for Anderson. She is a CrossFit Level 4 coach, a member of CrossFit’s seminar staff, and has been judging at the CrossFit Games since 2024.

And on Tuesday — the day before the 20th CrossFit Games in San Jose, CA, began — CrossFit’s athletes’ communications manager, Becky Harsh, entered the judges’ room and approached Anderson.

  • “So I heard you sing. Will you sing the national anthem at the opening ceremonies on Friday?” Harsh asked. 

After she got over her initial shock at the possibility of actually singing the anthem at the CrossFit Games, Anderson didn’t hesitate to say yes.

HIGHLIGHTS

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

  • 🩷Happy anniversary to Heber and Jenna Cannon.

  • Happy birthday to Pat Sherwood.

  • 😳Watch Pame Gutierrez knock out this 2:02 Fran.

  • Mariana Meza hit a 240-pound/108-kilo clean and jerk at Fitland Fitness Festival in Colombia. Amazing, Mariana!

  • 🔥On the men’s side of things at Fitland, Andres Patino clean and (squat 😮) jerks 360 pounds/163 kilos.