Canada West Regional Report: Leaders Emerge

June 9, 2013

Kate Rose and Jaimie Bougie

"I'm really proud of myself right now. Handstand push-ups are my biggest weakness, but I powered through all."
 

When the sun rose over the mountains of Richmond, British Columbia on Sunday morning, some of the leaders finally began to emerge at the Canada West Regional. 

Tyson Takasaki and Lucas Parker had separated themselves from a chaotic field. Erin Light solidified her position in second behind Heather Gillespie. Third place in both races was very much up for grabs.
 
Team 
 
West-coast brawlers Sheepdog CrossFit was notably absent when teams took the floor. Sebastien Lavioe and his team decided to withdraw. 
 
“When I got to the dumbbell snatch (yesterday), the 70 lbs. felt like 225 lbs,” Lavoie said. “I was supposed to do the deadlift and box jump event, but couldn’t. So my teammate Paul did; it was near his max. He hurt his back, as well. We gave it our all.”
 
Sheepdog was the 10th team to withdraw or fail to meet minimum requirements.
 
CrossFit 204 took an early lead in the final heat, finishing the double-unders quickly, but were caught on the handstand push-ups by CFC Crew. The CrossFit Calgary team held their lead until the shoulder-to-overhead portion, when three teams struck. 
 
The Centaurs led at the walking lunges. CrossFit Vancouver trailed, with Taranis close behind. CFC dropped the bar and struggled to bring it back to rack position, allowing the others to finish in front of them.
 
“We are very happy. We were expecting to get off the handstand pus- ups sooner than we did, so it threw our game plan out the window,” said Centaurs team member Mark Cassibo. “But we still had enough lead to take breaks and pace during the lunges. That was key.”
 
With the second-place finish, Taranis moves back into the second spot in the overall standings, six points behind the Centaurs. Finishing in a tie for ninth, CFC Crew moved to third, four points behind Taranis.
 
Event 6
1. The Centaurs – 10:59
2. CFV – 11:18
3. Team Taranis – 12:01
 
Overall
1. The Centaurs – 13 points
2. Team Taranis – 19 points
3. CFC Crew – 23 points
 
Women 
 
Event 6 belonged to Erin Light, the dark horse from Whitehorse. 
 
Light went through the double-unders unbroken, then moved to a pacing strategy through the handstand push-ups and toes-to-bar. She pressed the axle in sets of 10, and finished the event in a solid 11:30. Gillespie trailed more than a minute behind, and the win moved Light just one point from first place behind Gillespie. 
 
“Last year, I got 8:22 on Diane (at Regionals), so my offseason goal was to practice handstand push-ups. Once I got through those for this event, I was happy and ready to go,” Light said afterward. “My plan for the next event is just to have fun and be gracious to all my supporters.”
 
Jayde Quilty, fourth overall before the event, had difficulty on the handstand push-ups and didn’t finish the toes-to-bar before time expired. 
 
“You know, I’m really proud of myself right now,” Quilty said. “Handstand push-ups are my biggest weakness, but I powered through all. Next year, I’ll rock them for sure.” 
 
Gillespie says she’s ready to keep her first place spot.
 
“My plan for Event 7 is to win and hold on to my first place spot,” she said. “I don’t want to tie it up.”
 
Light is 13 points ahead of third place Erica Livett. It would take a great deal to unseat these the top two. 
 
Event 6
1. Erin Light – 11:31
2. Heather Gillespie – 12:58
3. Erica Livett – 13:03
 
Overall
1. Heather Gillespie – 29 points
2. Erin Light – 30 points
3. Erica Livett – 43 points
 
Men 
 
Eleven of the top 12 male athletes finished Event 6
 
Most completed 100 double-unders unbroken, but none rushed to begin the handstand push-ups. With a brief rest, Lucas Parker was second up on the wall.
 
Parker started his handstand push-ups without a kip. 
 
“My plan was to do strict handstand push-ups as much as possible,” he said. “It smokes the shoulders, but it helped save my trunk and hips for the rest.”
 
While Parker watched rival Tyson Takasaki closely and paced himself to maintain his lead, Curt Manning crept up in the first lane. He caught Parker on the shoulder-to-overhead, and then left on his lunges first.
 
Manning built a large lead, holding the bar past the halfway point. He looked over his shoulder as he rested, saw Parker’s axle bar on the ground, and chose to rest more. Parker cleaned his axle and began taking rapid steps forward. By the time Manning had his bar in position, Parker had pulled even, and they marched downfield in perfect sync.
 
The crowd surged against the barricades as the judges focused on the finish line. Both broke across the line at the same time, but Parker was called back when his trailing toe didn’t clear the line before he dropped the weight. 
 
“The crowd at the end was phenomenal. And seeing Lucas Parker neck-and-neck with me really pushed me,” Manning said afterward. “It’s pretty exciting to get first.”
 
Tyson Takasaki was in fifth place when he reached the axle, but made up ground rapidly using push jerks to pass Mike Eberts and Michael Fitzgerald. He took long strides downfield to finish in third.
 
Event 7
1. Curt Manning – 10:13
2. Lucas Parker – 10:27
3. Tyson Takasaki – 11:34
 
Overall
1. Lucas Parker – 14 points
2. Tyson Takasaki – 23 points
3. Joey Lutz – 43 points