"When an opportunity like this shows up, there's not much to think about."
Photos by: Jaime Freire García
The 2013 Reebok CrossFit Games Open is over. At least the workouts are.
But in numbers, the Leaderboard keeps moving and for the first time in the history of the Open, the few athletes who were on the bubble could get a second chance.
This is the case for Denisse Meza, a young Ecuadorian who has received an invitation to the Latin America Regional in her hometown of Guayaquil.
This second round of invitations was completely unexpected for Meza. In fact, she was already set to compete with Horda CrossFit’s team.
“Tano (a friend) called me and told me to look at the Leaderboard,” she recalls. “I couldn’t believe it. I had received an email with the news, but it was hidden in my spam folder, so it was a real surprise.”
Meza placed 57th in the region after five weeks of the Open. After several women declined their invitations, Meza got hers.
One who declined was Meza’s workout partner, Nelly Rodriguez. Rodriguez had to decline because she serves as the Latin America Event Director and has to work during the Regional weekend.
“I literally had tears in my eyes after clicking on ‘decline,’ but I had to,” she says. “Now, it makes me feel better knowing this benefits a very talented CrossFitter to compete and shine at the Regional.”
Meza says she’s thrilled to receive the invitation.
“I was very sad at first because I really prepared for the Open by participating in benchmark challenges and pretty much every local competition I could get to,” she says. “The only thing that made me feel better is that I got points for my team on each of the Open (workouts).”
Since Meza started CrossFit last year, her main goal has been to participate in Regionals and someday get to the CrossFit Games. She says she is a very competitive and hardworking person.
Now, she faces another challenge: choosing between participating individually or with Horda CrossFit’s team.
“When an opportunity like this shows up there’s not much to think about,” she says. “It’s due to my effort, dedication and hard work that I made it.”
To prepare for the Regional, Meza has dialed in her diet and added in extra lifting and skill work.
“I started dieting, although I hate it,” she says. “I’m now doing more barbell work to improve my PRs and will be working hard on my gymnastics skills.”
Second chances do not show up every day, but this year the CrossFit Games season has given many participants a second chance.
