The Coliseum will be filled Saturday morning with athletes from around West Texas competing in the second annual Granite Games CrossFit competition.
“We’re one of about 50 host sites in the United States where people, usually cross-fitters, but it’s not always cross-fitters — it’s anyone who does functional fitness — will come and they will compete with two other people,” said Kendall Riggan of CrossFit Snyder, which is sponsoring the event. “It’s same-gender teams of three, and two separate divisions. Intermediate, which is usually people who have been doing CrossFit for more than six months or so, and scaled, which is usually people who have been doing CrossFit for less than six months.”
The regional competition will kick off at 8 a.m. Saturday, and Riggan said it will all be over by about 12:30 p.m.
“It’s at The Coliseum, and there’s no fee to come watch, so we’re definitely welcoming spectators to come check it out and see what it’s about,” Riggan said. “A lot of people think it’s these elite athletes, but it’s really just a bunch of moms and dads out there trying to be as healthy as they possibly can, and it just gives us something to work for, having a competition.”
During the event, teams will participate in a series of four workouts.
“There’s four different workouts and then their scores will combine to give them their points total for the end of the day,” Riggan said. “Those scores will be ranked, both locally, but then they’ll also go to the national leader board as well.”
The events start out simple and become more complex as they progress. Round one consists of an eight-minute period where contestants do sets of three bench-press repetitions. A team’s score will be a combination of the highest weight each athlete presses.
During round two, each athlete will do four “Devil’s presses” — a combination push-up and dumbbell lift — followed by eight “box jump overs.” Athletes continue cycling through the events for eight minutes, and their score is based on the total repetitions completed.
Round three is where things get complicated. With two of a team’s athletes working at the same time, and rotating through the lineup for 15 minutes, rowing, front squats with dumbbells, knee raises, burpees (laying flat and pushing up to a stand and jump), and then repeating the sequence in reverse are all part of the mix. The score is based on the total repetitions completed.
The final round involves jump ropes, shoulder-to-overhead lifts and ring rows.
Scores are based on the time it takes to complete the event.
“We have 31 teams, so that puts us at 93 competitors,” Riggan said. “Last year, the Granite Games Throwdown event was one event, one and done. This time, it’s part of a three-event series, so you can qualify for the championship at any of those three events, instead of everybody having to come to a single event. I think that’s why registrations are down a bit. Plus, there’s kids’ stuff going on, and this is just a busy time of year.”
Snyder will be well-represented in the competition.
“We have a lot of teams from Snyder that are competing,” Riggan said. “I think there are seven or eight, and then we have teams that are coming from as far as the panhandle or El Paso even, and then we have people from Midland, Odessa, Big Spring, Lubbock, Lamesa, several different areas.”
Riggan invited everyone to come see what CrossFit is all about.
“There’s a huge misconception that people have about CrossFitters, and especially here in Snyder it’s something I’m trying to combat in our community,” she said. “We liken it to, you don’t get right with the Lord and then start going to church, you go to church and get right. That’s what it’s like. You come to CrossFit wherever you are in your fitness journey, and we help move you to the next level. You’ll see people who have 50 pounds to lose, or even more, and they come in and they’re working right alongside someone who is truly there for elite fitness because they like working out.”
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