Major Announcement for Individuals

An additional day of competition was announced to athletes at the athlete dinner Monday night.

Wednesday, July 11th is now a full day of competition for the men and women. Four scored events await the athletes off-site from the Home Depot Center at the U.S. Marine base, Camp Pendleton.

The athletes arrived in L.A. and registered today. They gathered tonight for an athlete-only dinner where Dave Castro, Director of Training, made an announcement that shocked the athletes.

Castro explained the first event of the 2012 Reebok CrossFit Games would be a swim, bike, run event at Camp Pendleton. The race starts with a 700-meter ocean swim with fins, followed by an 8-kilometer bike ride across undulating terrain and soft sand, and finishes with a 11.3-kilometer run across steep hills and more than 427 meters of elevation gain.

This event will be scored in two parts – Pendleton 1 and Pendleton 2 – worth 100 points each. There is a checkpoint for the first scored event approximately 150 meters into the run. The order the athletes cross that checkpoint will be their placing for the Pendleton 1. But there is no rest as athletes continue to race to the finish line. The order the athletes cross the finish line will be their placing for Pendleton 2. To be clear, Pendleton 2 is the overall finish of the athletes, and not the split time from the end of Pendleton 1.

After about an hour of rest, athletes will complete the Camp Pendleton School of Infantry Obstacle Course. They will race against each other head-to-head in a three-round bracketed tournament. This is the first time in CrossFit Games history that any event has been executed in bracketed heats.

This means four athletes will race against each other in heats. The top finisher from each heat moves on to the next round of the obstacle course, competing next to the other heat winners and four wildcard athletes. These are the four best times of all the athletes who didn’t win their heats in the first round. The winners of the four heats in the second round then move onto the final round for the win.

Having a fourth day of competition early in the week is both completely unprecedented, yet fully within the CrossFit Games core premise of being prepared for the unknown and unknowable.

Castro also announced that Thursday is officially a rest day for the athletes with no competition. This is also the first time in CrossFit Games history that a rest day has been incorporated into the competition.

Since this surprise event is on a military base, no spectators are allowed. And, unfortunately, due to the remote area, there is no way to stream the Event live. But don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. Here’s how to follow the Wednesday event: 

• Live radio account of the day on the Games site (via cell phone)
• Twitter coverage will be live and frequent, with up-to-date progress and results
• The CrossFit Games Facebook page will be updated throughout the day, with pictures
• Actual results will be reflected on the Leaderboard as soon as they are known
• The Camp Pendleton Event page will be updated throughout the day
• Written reports on each event throughout the day
• Highlights and analysis on the Wednesday evening Update Show
• An Event Summary video of the two Pendleton events published Wednesday night around 8 p.m., PT
• Event Summary videos of the obstacle course and broad jump events by early Thursday morning.