The Open is upon us.

New home, new year, new movement. 18 point 1 came and went with a bang, although some might have thought the noise was the sound of athletes hitting the ground at the 20 minute mark it was actually the sound of the electrifying crowd. The house was packed for our first Sunday Showdown of the season and spirits were high as our athletes tackled this long chipper workout.

This year we have 90 athletes competing in the Open, making it the most successful Open to date. As we settled into our new home my biggest concern was being able to properly prepare for the 2018 Open, often I worried it was too close and we didn’t have enough time. My worries quickly subsided when I watched our Friday Night Lights crew tackle the workout and when the dust settled I realized just how ready we were. I couldn’t be prouder of the effort that our athletes put forth on this first workout. The new movement, the single dumbbell hang clean and jerk, made little impact on our crew, and the gymnastics element, toes to bar, didn’t stop people from going Rx. In fact, 88% of our Male Athletes went RX and 63% of our ladies did too.

Our team placed 252^nd in the Region with Colin, Hai, Lauren, and Gabby leading the way with top scores. Our male Rx athletes averaged 262 reps on 18.1 and the scaled athletes averaged 299 reps. On the ladies’ side we saw the Rx females average 200 reps with the scaled athletes averaging 233 reps. Team Grey’s Rx Men averaged 252 reps, and Team Black ‘s Rx Men averaged 270 reps. Team Grey’s ladies pulled through with 10 Rx ladies averaging 207 reps, beating out Team Black’s 14 Rx athletes who averaged 195 reps.

Participation was high in week one, but don’t be complacent because we always start off strong in the beginning. Team Black had 41 athletes (91%) complete 18.1 while Team Grey had 44 athletes (97%) complete 18.1.

PARTICIPATION

The battle for bragging rights kicked off as Team Black and Team Grey both fought for top podium spots and the spirit points for the week.

Spirit points are always a contested subject, subjective, perhaps, but when you see a team out scream, out cheer, and organize better than another, it’s hard to discount the effort and choosing becomes easy. This week however, it was a dead tie with both teams securing 5 Spirit Points for the leaderboard. Often, we find week 1 is tied as the excitement for the first workout gets both teams riled up. Week 2 is really where we start to see who’s got the most spirit.

The podium division was the real separator in week 1. Keep in mind, to secure a podium spot, you must show up to compete during the official competition times. This is to ensure we have a fun and exciting competition full of spectators, where the nerves and the stakes are higher and an athlete, although allowed to, cannot repeat the workout off peak hours and knock someone off the podium.

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On the Men’s side, Team Black dominated, taking 7 top spots while Team Grey only secured 2 podium spots. However, it was the ladies that held it down for Team Grey with 8 podium spots, leaving only 4 podium spots for our ladies of Team Black. Overall, Team Grey squeaked out the W, with a score of 89 – 88. How will the leaderboard shake up next week with the release of 18.2 coming tonight?

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