Australian couple: "It’s changed the way we live."
Carson, California—It’s become their annual vacation.
Every year since 2012, Grant and Sue Rennett travel more than 14 hours across the Pacific Ocean from Sydney, Australia, to Southern California for the CrossFit Games.
“We’ve seen the event evolve over the past three years,” Sue said.
It was three years ago when the 46-year-old began training at CrossFit Norwest. She lost 15 kg and finished 46th in the Open in the Masters Women 45-49 Division.
Grant, meanwhile, only dabbles in CrossFit and named motocross as his sport. Nonetheless, he had great admiration for CrossFit athletes.
“I played a lot of sport,” the 51-year-old said. “When I watch those guys I think they’re crazy. … I admire the way they’re able to make their way in a workout.”
They “can do everything,” Grant continued, “in front of everybody.”
And they demonstrate mental fortitude, he added.
“Generally speaking, most things in life … you get it done when you get it done,” Grant said.
But not CrossFit athletes—they get it done for time.
“I have a lot of respect for what they do,” he said.
The Rennetts were among the first people in line Wednesday evening to watch individual athletes in the Overhead Squat event that called for competitors to establish a 1-rep-max lift across three attempts.
That morning, individuals started their day with The Beach event. So did the teams, tasked with remaining tethered to a rescue sled and swimming it and themselves around buoys and back in to shore. Meanwhile, masters competitors tackled their second day of competition after four events on Day 1. Masters winners will be crowned on Thursday.
Wednesday night, athletes lifted one at a time and spectators erupted in cheers—twice brought to their feet by Tommy Hackenbruck’s and Rich Froning’s 400-lb. attempts—as athletes struggled with weight and nailed heavy squats.
The event was the first of the 2014 CrossFit Games to play out beneath the bright lights of the 8,000-seat tennis stadium. It was reminiscent of 2010, when the Games debuted in the then-Home Depot Center with muscle-ups and squat snatches. But there was one key difference: Wednesday night’s crowd easily doubled the one from four years ago, when the Games kicked off on a Friday.
“Actually, walking out tonight gave me the same feeling of walking out in 2010,” said Christy Adkins, formerly Christy Phillips, who has competed in six Games.
She continued: “The fact that we have this many people out here on a Wednesday not only to watch us lift but take pictures with us, shake our hands and talk about training shows how far it’s come.”
In 2010, spectators comprised family, friends, coaches and affiliate members. Today, people arrive from all parts of the globe “just to see fan favorites,” Adkins noted.
Wednesday’s crowd was arguably equally as electric as the 2010 evening when the legendary Chris Spealler and 2008 Games champion Jason Khalipa battled it out during the newly introduced Amanda event. Four years later, the two men were again on stadium floor, competing as two of CrossFit’s elite.
For the Rennetts’, though, their trip is about more than watching the figurative gladiators perform feats of fitness, but an expression of a better life.
“It’s changed the way we live,” Sue said of CrossFit.
Grant agreed.
“I’ve become a better partner.”
CrossFit, he added, gives people an opportunity to realize their potential.
“People having a go, achieving goals,” he explained.
After all, there’s only one Froning, Grant noted.
“There’s millions and millions of people out there having a go.”
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