The Grit, The Grind & the Glory

It was the sweat, strength and swagger that resonated with the knee deep crowds hanging off the barricades to watch these champion crossfitters throw down! Personal Trainers, gym owners, spinners, fitness buffs and even Zumba specialists stood mesmerized alongside the well-seasoned crossfit spectators, and got a taste of the intensity,camaraderie and competition that the Canadian crossfit community has to offer. The 2012 Sweat RX Championships was held at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, within the Canfitpro Tradeshow, on August 17th and 18th.

There was no shortage of talent as athletes came from as far west as Invermere BC, as east as Halifax, Nova Scotia and everywhere in between! And just beyond the 300 athletes and sea of spectators you could see the Brinks truck backing in to dump the load of dough that these competitors were vying for – seriously! $13,000 in cold cash up for grabs for the individuals, an all-expense paid trip to the 2013 CrossFit Games in Carson, California for the affiliate Rx’d team to take gold, and GNC gift cards and some cool Reebok gear peaked the interest of the Masters and scaled team competitors. Competition was fierce but most importantly, the ‘f’ word of the day was fun! Quebec was in full force with multiple teams from CrossFit Montreal and CrossFit Laval. Special mention is owed to Jacques Ambroise, owner of CF Montreal and co-owner of CF Laval, who helped manage a very successful qualifier event for Quebec and shepherded dozens of athletes to the finals in Toronto while taking the challenge to compete in the Masters division – impressive to say the least! CrossFit Laval scooped up 1st place in the Scaled Team division and fought like warriors for their 2nd place finish for the RX’d Team division – bravo! An honorable mention goes out to Reebok CrossFit Liberty Village who had a stellar performance in the Scaled Team division and showed incredible sportsmanship and camaraderie….what CrossFit is all about Kudos to Jason Cain, owner of Reebok CrossFit 306 in Saskatchewan who rounded up the Prairies competitors for yet another stellar qualifier event. As a top-ranked Regionals athlete, he set aside his potential cash cow personal event of the Individual Best of the Best to join his team for the finals in Toronto, taking a wellearned 3rd place finish on the podium. The CrossFit Kinetics crew were nothing shy of impressive with 2 teams strong in the RX’d division. Team 1 under the leadership of Jim Hardy who also gets kudos for his east coast qualifier event and a hell of a trip to Toronto to stand strong with a 5th place finish. CrossFit O-Town pushed into an impressive 4th place for the RX’d division. Never a dull moment,the competitors were kept on their toes with superior programming provided by Alex Cibiri from Element CrossFit. Athletes pushed through the grit and the grind and spectators stayed well-informed thanks to the tireless encouragement and running commentary from MC extraordinaire, Jamie Nugent of CompWOD. Special thanks to all of our partners and sponsors including GNC, Kaizen and canfitpro and gratitude is owed to the dozens of volunteers and judges that assisted in making the event run smooth as almond butter. And in a nutshell, here are the highlights of the final throw down:

Scaled Teams

1st CrossFit Laval
2nd CrossFit Markham
3rd CrossFit Stoney Creek
4th CrossFit Select
5th CrossFit Laval 2

RX’d Teams
1st CrossFit Select (winning
the trip to the 2013 Games)
2nd CrossFit Laval
3rd Reebok CrossFit 306
4th CrossFit O-Town
5th CrossFit Kinetics 1

Masters Men
1st Patrick Tortorici
2nd Jason Bird
3rd Steeve Dupre
4th Marc Chiarelli
5th Jacques Ambroise

Masters Women
1st Jennifer Morris
2nd Cindy Henson
3rd Cara Vogl

The Individual

Best of the Best Women
1st Michele Letendre $4000
2nd Kendra Johnsen $1500
3rd Lacey Van Der Marel $1000
4th Jessica Cote-Beaudoin
5th Elma Ducic

Best of the Best Men
1st Pascal Baillargeon $4000
2nd Peter D’Amore $1500
3rd Chris Cristini $1000
4th Yves Tourville
5th Chad Furey

And the Kaizen 50/50 Challenge went off in a flurry of burpees and backrows leaving Tyler Kopacz as the top dog winner of $500 in Kaizen Supplements, Guiseppe Fetta back rowed his way into 2nd and Paul Hendriks captured 3rd. Congratulations to all of the athletes. The event was incredible and we enjoyed the experience of connecting the community and seeing everyone come together, leaving a lasting impression of camaraderie and great sportsmanship. We are stoked about next year’s event! The planning has begun – stay tuned!

Photography by letusgophoto.ca