This year’s California Regional includes 14 past individual CrossFit Games competitors. It’s second to the Atlantic, Central and West Regionals, which are tied for 15 past individual Games competitors.
“The California Regional has a depth of talent, for sure,” said individual competitor Cheryl Brost.
But it also has something else you might not notice if you were only discerning by wrinkles and walkers, or the lack thereof. The Regional has the most individual athletes competing who also have qualified as Masters this year. And it’s a list that includes familiar names: 46-year-old Brost, 38-year-old Nuno Costa, soon-to-be-35-year-old Kirsten Pedri, 38-year-old Valerie Voboril and 36-year-old Becca Voigt.
“Eventually we’re gonna become Masters, right?” Brost said with a laugh.
Since Masters first began competing at the Games in 2010, their competition has evolved, as have they. A competition that was once in the parking lot at the then-Home Depot Center in Carson, California, has since been featured in the now-StubHub Center’s soccer stadium before droves of screaming fans.
“It’s gone from a sidebar to almost—not quite to the front line—but it’s creepin’ its way up there,” Voboril said, grinning.
With an increasing number of familiar names entering the Masters fray, that competition will command more fan attention, said Voboril, a five-time Games athlete who placed third at the 2013 Games.
Jonathan Kinnick expressed similar sentiments.
“It’s getting a little more popular, more focus, more interest in it. It should translate to more participation,” said Kinnick, co-founder of Beyond the Whiteboard, a logging and analyzing tool CrossFit athletes use to track workouts and nutrition. Kinnick also owns CrossFit Kinnick in Upland, California.
And Games organizers continue to raise the proverbial performance bar.
“I don’t think we’ve seen the ceiling yet in terms of what people are capable of,” said Brost, the oldest individual competitor at any Regional.
At 5-foot-2 and 135 lb., Brost boasts a 2:35 Fran time, 45 max pull-ups and a 385-lb. deadlift.
For this year’s Online Qualifier, most Masters athletes had to perform ring muscle-ups, chest-to-bar pull-ups and deadlifts as heavy as 225 lb. for women and 315 lb. for men.
“I think in the next decade we’ll start to recalibrate what’s possible,” Kinnick said.
His 37-year-old brother, Jeremy, a four-time Games competitor, PR’d his deadlift just last week, he noted.
The Masters 35-39 age group “is not putting up as fast times as the general group but (it’s) not that far behind, and it keeps getting closer,” he explained. “I think we thought that cap fell off more than it actually does.”
Although her recovery time is longer than it used to be, Brost, too, said she still sets personal records.
“For the Masters … I think it’s a testament (that) CrossFit works,” she said. “It’s amazing how we can slow the aging process.”
Voigt, a nine-time Games athlete, often trains with competitive athletes who are 10 to 15 years younger.
“It’s really refreshing we still can compete with these young bucks,” she said.
Costa, who is competing on the CrossFit Invictus team seeking to qualify for its ninth Games, said people are often shocked by his age.
“That’s CrossFit and eating right,” said Costa, who is on CrossFit Inc. Seminar Staff.
He said his goal is to stay competitive as long as possible.
“I’m still in a little bit of disbelief every year,” Costa said with a laugh. “I’m surprised I can keep up.”
Ask any Masters athlete about society’s notion that to age is to become decrepit and they’ll tell you it’s hogwash.
“I think we’ve completely flipped it upside down,” Brost said.
At his affiliate, Kinnick has seen athletes in their 50s and 60s get their first pull-ups.
“It doesn’t fall off like we, as a society, thought,” he said, then added, “We in CrossFit already knew that.”
Kinnick continued: “It’s really cool for staying out of the nursing home. If you keep training, it’s not an issue.”
Men
1. Christian Lucero (195)
2. Josh Bridges (190)
3. Jeff Patzer (165)
4. Julian Alcaraz (152)
5. Ryan Fischer (138)
Women
1. Kirsten Pedri (185)
2. Valerie Voboril (171)
3. Alessandra Pichelli (164)
4. Maddy Myers (160)
5. Lauren Fisher (155)
Teams
1. Invictus (200)
2. NorCal (185)
3. CrossFit 209 Sport (163)
4. Bear Republic CrossFit (160)
5. Paradiso Venice (154)
For complete details, visit the Leaderboard. https://games.crossfit.com/leaderboard
