The "Sled Dog" Retires -- A Look Back at Katrin Davidsdottir's Career

Good morning and welcome to the Morning Chalk Up.

In today’s edition:

• Two-time CrossFit Games champ Katrin Davidsdottir announced her retirement last week. Today, we take a look back at her legendary career.

• Josh Melendez, owner of CrossFit Be Someone in Houston, TX, shares three lessons for running a thriving CrossFit affiliate.

• The second Major of the 24/25 HYROX season took place last month in Hong Kong, check out our full recap below.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“It was Sunday morning of the 2015 Games, and it was the first time it had ever crossed my mind that I could win the CrossFit Games. It is so powerful what happens when your mind has a strong ‘why.’” - Katrin Davidsdottir describing a pivotal moment in her Games career.

PROFILE

The Sled Dog’s Journey – Celebrating Katrin Davidsdottir’s CrossFit Career

Last week, Katrin Tanja Davidsdottir took to social media and said the words that competitive CrossFit athletes never want to say yet somehow always know will inevitably come:

• “I’ve been thinking about this moment for a long time, and I can’t believe I’m about to say this out loud, but I’ve decided to retire from competing in CrossFit.”

One of the genuinely esteemed veterans of the sport, the hole Davidsdottir leaves will be palpable. Here is a totally not comprehensive look at her incredible career.

The Beginning

Katrin Davidsdottir burst onto the CrossFit scene in 2012. 

A native of Reykjavik, Iceland, Davidsdottir grew up a gymnast with the perfect athletic background to excel in CrossFit. After seeing another Icelandic woman win the Games in 2011 — Annie Thorisdottir — Davidsdottir was all in. 

Davidsdottir described how it all started in an exclusive interview with the Morning Chalk Up:

• “My first introduction to CrossFit was seeing Annie on the news after she won the Games in 2011. They showed clips of her competing, and I remember wanting to do just that – from the beginning, my goal was to become a Games athlete.”

She started the foundations course at Thorisdottir’s affiliate and was in awe when Annie herself walked in to coach one of her classes. 

Thorisdottir even knew Katrin’s name, which impacted the youngster to the core.

“Since that day, that has stuck with me, of how much it means to people to hear their name,” Davidsdottir said, “especially from somebody they look up to so much.”

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SPEED READS

🗳️ 🏆 2024 Gym of the Year Giveaway: FITAID’s annual Gym of the Year Giveaway is on now, and they will be choosing one lucky gym to get a swagged-out prize pack. Follow this link and fill out the form to be entered to win. And learn more here!

• And LIFEAID co-founders Aaron Hinde and Orion Melehan will be speaking about their experiences and the development of their business at BEVNET Live, December 8-10. 

📨💰PushPress Giveaway for GymHappy Clients: Want to win $500? GymHappy clients can check out the details for the month-long contest here and get entered.

🎄🥦 Free Holiday Nutrition Guide: Check out this free nutrition guide from Training Think Tank Nutrition, which offers tips on managing holiday travel, get-togethers, parties, and more.

📺 🗣️ Constantly Varied Conversations: In John Wooley’s latest video, the Wooley Memeth himself breaks down some recent controversy in the CrossFit Games media space.

😎🌴 2024 TYR WZA Miami Beach Wave 2 Ticket Sales: In case you’ve missed it, tickets for TYR WZA Miami Beach are currently in Wave 2 pricing. Get yours soon and save some $$$.

• So far, the elite athlete roster includes team “Relyte Salt Baes” (Arielle Loewen, Alex Gazan, and Emily Rolfe), “PJ’s” (Jeff Adler, Jayson Hopper, and Pat Vellner), “the Boys” (Noah Ohlsen, Chandler Smith, and Travis Mayer), “the Broadway Girls” (Haley Adams, Brooke Wells, and Sydney Wells), Nick Mathew, Laura Horvath, Gui Malheiros, Alexis Raptis, Ricky Garard, Pat Vellner, Dani Speegle, James Sprague, and Arielle Loewen. Many more to come.

ICYMI: If you’re a gym owner, granting “unattended access” to your members might be just the thing to get some much-needed time off. Get the details and hear from leaders in the affiliate community here.

MEMBER EXCLUSIVE

3 Lessons from Josh Melendez on Running a Thriving CrossFit Affiliate

Josh Melendez, owner of CrossFit Be Someone in Houston, TX, has built a successful affiliate by staying true to his values and the CrossFit methodology.

• In a recent episode of our Best Hour of Their Day podcast, we had the pleasure of sitting down with Josh to discuss his journey and the lessons he's learned.

While we highly recommend listening to the full episode for a deeper dive, we want to highlight three key takeaways that every CrossFit affiliate owner can apply to their business.

Lesson 1: Streamline Membership Options to Align with Your Values and Client Results

One of Josh's most impactful changes was eliminating limited membership plans and focusing solely on unlimited memberships.

• While limited plans might seem like a good way to attract cost-conscious clients, they often don't align with your affiliate’s long-term goals and can hinder client progress. 

By offering only unlimited memberships, Josh sends a clear message about his commitment to helping clients achieve the best results through consistent training.

COMPETITIONS

HYROX Major Recap: 2024 Cigna Healthcare HYROX Open Asian Championships

The second Major of the 2024/2025 HYROX season wrapped up last month in Hong Kong, China, and did not disappoint as up-and-comers battled it out against seasoned veterans for six more spots at the 2025 HYROX World Championships.

Remind me: For the 2024/25 HYROX Elite 15 season, athletes can qualify for the World Championships at four different Major races or a last-chance qualifier in Barcelona, Spain. 

• Each Major hosts a male and female Elite 15 race, where the top three finishers automatically qualify for the Majors. There are two more Majors for the season: Las Vegas, NV, and Glasgow, Scotland.

Women’s Elite 15

On the women’s side, it was a battle between seasoned athlete Lauren Weeks and Australian newcomer Joanna Wietrzyk, who had just made her debut at the Elite 15 race in October at the Amsterdam, Netherlands Major race. 

Weeks was neck and neck with fellow U.S. athlete Lauren Griffith, but Wietrzyk pulled ahead during the sled push station. 

Wietrzyk continued to extend her lead and finished sub-60 minutes, taking home first place. Weeks finished in second, and Kate Davey took third, securing her spot at the World Championships.

• Due to this season’s roll-down rule, the third-, fourth-, and fifth-place finishers qualified for the World Championship. 

• Davey took third, Ida Mathilde Steensgaard took fourth, and Lauren Griffith took fifth. 

HIGHLIGHTS

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

• 🎂Happy birthday to Steph Mireles.

• Check out these Grid League skills from Janet Durant of the Orlando Aces. (Something to add to your next metcon?)

• ICYMI, watch Li Dayin and Laura Horvath demo some snatches (muscle snatches in Dayin's case) at the Asia Fitness Championship.

• Congratulations to all the 23 members of Tolland CrossFit in Tolland, CT, who PRed their deadlifts last week.

• 😳Watch Christine Middleton squat clean 134 kilos/295 pounds! Amazing work!!