The workouts were tough, the crowd was loud, and it was an exciting atmosphere.
It was a fun day at No Excuses CrossFit on Saturday, January 12 at the Granite Games Throwdown.
The event drew 36 teams, led by No Excuses CrossFit with 11, in four different divisions. Five teams drove more than four hours from the Savannah area.
Team AxAt Black, the men’s intermediate winners, were confident coming into the competition. “Obviously, it was to do our best, but we wanted to win,” AxAt Black team member Will Jones said. “We workout hard. We train together, so we had an idea of what we wanted to do and put game plan to action. It worked out well for us.”
AxAt Black team members also praised host No Excuses CrossFit. “I’ve been to multiple competitions at this gym, and this was probably the best one,” Jones said. “The vendors were great. The judges were great. They were top notch. And the camaraderie. Everyone was nice and everyone was helping one another. It’s the epitome of CrossFit.”
Jones did make a suggestion for the next competition. “All-in-all it was a great competition,” he said. “I would have liked to have seen more technical movements, but as a competition as a whole for what we’re trying to accomplish here I thought it was great. There’s nothing more that could be added.”
AxAt Green, the women’s intermediate winners, were glad they didn’t die. “We just wanted to do well, stay consistent,” AxAt Green team member Christine Ostroski said. “We wanted to stick to the plans that we had made as a group and that we practiced. Not die.”
Alive and Kipping, which had a combined age of 149 years between its three teammates, won the men’s scaled division. “I thought we would be on the podium,” team member Greg Hayes said. “I did not think we would win. The competition is tough. The last time I did the competition, we were not on the podium.”
Hayes did have some ideas for the next competition. “I thought the WODs and the people involved were great. It’s just another great community event,” Hayes said. “I would probably have shorter breaks, so it gets done sooner.”
The female scaled winners, Like Fun, Only Different, felt strongly about their odds in the division. “We thought if it was a true scaled competition, we would do really well. But you never know,” team member Marsha Baggett said. “With the atmosphere and the WODs, it was a good mix of stuff.”
Partners and vendors for the event included Low-Co Motion food truck, Monster Energy, Blue Ocean Lifestyle, Advance Rehab, Ascent Protein, Kill Cliff, Victory Grips, RipFix, Lynx Barbell.
We really appreciate our volunteers for donating their time: Jeremy Edmondson, MacKenzie Maynard, Barbara Parsons, Dhillon Santokh, Stephany Maughon, Vanessa Whitten, Angela Duke, Gus Cortes, Dani Cortes, Matt Ziesmer, JC Sierra, Adam Rojas, Josh Diehl, Erick Fuentes, Michelle Stovall, Chris Fischer, Yessica Rojas, Kim Guthrie, Amy Hood, Cameron Weeks.
All podium teams and categories
Full results can be viewed here.
Men’s Intermediate
1st AxAt Black (CrossFit AxAt), 8 points
2nd South Hall (South Hall CrossFit), 11 points
3rd Beer and Hot Wings (No Excuses CrossFit), 14 points
Women’s Intermediate
1st AxAt Green (CrossFit AxAt), 5 points
2nd Short, Short, and Shorter (CrossFit Port Royal Sound), 10 points
3rd 3, 2, 1, Go! (South Hall CrossFit), 11 points
Men’s Scaled
1st Alive and Kipping (No Excuses CrossFit), 10 points
2nd Breaking Dawn (No Excuses CrossFit), 12 points
3rd Just D.A.M. (CrossFit Pure), 12 points
Women’s Scaled
1st Like Fun, Only Different (South Hall CrossFit), 7 points
2nd Alpha Sisters (Independent), 8 points
3rd Moves Like Jagger (CrossFit East Decatur/Move Functional Fitness), 9 points