Celebrating Fitness and Making Memories at the Inaugural TYR Cup

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Good morning and welcome to the Morning Chalk Up.

In today’s edition:

• By all accounts, the TYR Cup at TYR Wodapalooza SoCal was a smashing success and may pave the way for future spectator-friendly CrossFit team-style competitions. Check out our on-site review and highlights below.

• The Rogue Invitational is heading to Aberdeen, Scotland, in November, and 11 of the CrossFit athletes rounding out the field earned their way through “The Q.” Learn more about them below.

• At Geaux CrossFit in Louisiana, owner Amber Leonard read about Athena Perez’s story in the Morning Chalk Up. Inspired, she created “Geaux Transformations,” a program designed to help larger-bodied people transform their health.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“I don’t even remember what happened afterward; I completely blacked out.” - Dallin Pepper on the aftermath of the 50-calorie Echo Bike sprint in Event 9 at TYR WZA SoCal.

COMPETITIONS

Celebrating Fitness and Making Memories at the Inaugural TYR Cup

There was excitement, anticipation, and a slight unease in the days and weeks leading up to the inaugural TYR Wodapalooza SoCal. 

Coming out of the 2024 Games, just over a month after losing Lazar Ðukić, athletes, fans, and media were unsure of what emotions may emerge in Huntington Beach and if hearts were healed enough to take part in a CrossFit competition. 

• When the TYR Cup athletes gathered on Thursday morning to begin check-in, things were….quiet. And anticipation was heavy in the air. 

As members of Team North America and Team World began filtering into the Shorebreak Hotel to collect their kits and greet one another, the vibes settled in, and the day progressed with practice sessions for the two teams. 

One could start to see a lightness in the athletes as some of the heaviness of the previous few weeks lifted a little bit.

It was obvious right away that this was going to be a memorable competition.

The Background

The TYR Cup was a team-style exhibition featuring two groups of eight athletes, many of whom were experiencing team competition for the first time. 

• Even CrossFit veterans had never been on a team with seven others in a live event. 

By the time the workouts had concluded on Friday night, everyone could tell the athletes were having some much-deserved fun. 

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SPEED READS

⚕️💪The CrossFit Medical Society at Coaches Congress: The Coaches Congress is holding its annual two-day event from October 5-6 in London, England. The event, an amazing education opportunity for owners and coaches, includes leaders in health, training, and fitness.

• The CrossFit Medical Society will be there leading roundtables and breakout sessions, as well as speaking on both days. Check out the schedule here.

💪 🙌 Working with Larger Bodies Seminar: Athena Perez and Scaled Nation Training will be delivering the Working with Larger Bodies seminar at CrossFit HSN in Pompano Beach, FL on Saturday, November 9. This will be the last Working with Larger Bodies seminar of the 2024 season. Register now.

🏃🏃 HYROX World Championships Location Announced: The rapidly growing fitness race series will host its 2024/25 World Championships in Chicago at the Navy Pier from June 12 to 15, 2025. Learn more here.

🏋️☀️The Fittest Experience Online Qualifier: The Fittest Experience (TFX) Online Qualifier kicks off soon, and there’s still time to get in on the action! Participation is open to the entire community in 30+ divisions: Pro, RX, Intermediate, Rookie, Masters, Teens, Teams, young athletes, and athletes looking to test their fitness against the leaderboard.

• The qualifier takes place September 25-October 8, and top athletes will qualify for the TFX Championship in January 2025 in Austin, TX. Learn more.

☀️🥇The Dubai Fitness Championship is Coming — Online Qualifier On Now: The Dubai Fitness Championship is coming to the Dubai Duty-Free Tennis Stadium from December 6-8, 2024. The total prize purse is approximately 1.3 million AED or just over $350,000 USD.

• Thirty men and 30 women will compete, and the only way to qualify is through the online qualifier, which runs September 19-October 10. Register now and check out the workouts: 24.1, 24.2, and 24.3. Be sure to use the Official Video Recording Partner of the DFC, WODProof.

ICYMI: The 2024 Rogue Invitational is heading to Aberdeen, Scotland, this November. Now that the roster is locked, check out the 20 men and 20 women competing for the CrossFit offseason’s biggest prize purse.

MEMBER EXCLUSIVE

Get to Know the 2024 Rogue Invitational Qualifiers

The Rogue Invitational Qualifier, officially known as “The Q,” is one of the toughest qualifiers in CrossFit. 

• With a prize purse that rivals the CrossFit Games and a competition that creates special memories for athletes, receiving one of the 20 spots at the Rogue Invitational is a coveted opportunity.

For the last two seasons, Rogue has invited 15 athletes to the Rogue Invitational. 

These athletes are typically in the top 15 finishers from the CrossFit Games, although Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr received an invite last year even though she sat out the 2023 Games. 

• In 2024, Rogue unveiled a new qualification system that uses a points system to determine who gets invited. The system scores an athlete's results over the previous three competition seasons.

Looking Back

With such a competitive field, graduates of “The Q” have a tough task ahead of them to place well at Rogue. Out of the 22 athletes who have qualified out of “The Q,” half of them have finished in the bottom five of the competition.

In 2022, the only qualifier to crack the top 10 was Chandler Smith. 

• He ended up taking second overall and revitalizing his CrossFit career. 

HEALTH

Geaux CrossFit Launches Initiative to Help Larger-Bodied People Transform Their Health

When Amber Leonard stumbled across Athena Perez’s story, she was inspired to start a program for those suffering from obesity and Type 2 diabetes at her gym, Geaux CrossFit, in Baton Rouge, LA.

Remind me: Perez owns Scaled Nation CrossFit, which educates coaches on working with larger-bodied athletes. She’s also the author of Lifting the Wait, a book that details her long struggle with being overweight.

• Leonard became inspired when she started following Perez’s recent journey working with CrossFit Youtuber Andrew Hiller, who became Perez’s fitness coach in January 2024. Perez documented her very emotional journey — dubbed “My Hiller Challenge” — with the Morning Chalk Up.

Leonard is from Louisiana, where obesity and Type 2 diabetes rates are some of the highest in the country. According to the American Diabetes Association, 13.8% of the state’s population has diabetes, while 40.1% are obese. This gave Leonard some extra motivation to do something.

HIGHLIGHTS

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

• 💕Happy anniversary to Tim and Caitlin Paulson.

• Happy birthday to Tim Arriola.

• Check out Christine Middleton with this five-rep muscle snatch at 56 kilos/125 pounds.

• Congratulations to Mac from CrossFit Fort Vancouver in Vancouver, WA, on this 122-kilo/269-pound lifetime snatch PR.

• 🔥Nice work to Christine Kolenbrander on this squat clean ladder, ending at 99 kilos/220 pounds.