Every year, hundreds of thousands of athletes around the globe join together in the world’s largest sporting event, the CrossFit Open. Over the course of three weeks in March, this year’s participants will measure their fitness, push their limits, and compete with one another for a place in the next round of the CrossFit season.
Why do so many people choose to take part in this iconic event each year? At first it may be tough to tell. Participants come from all walks of life and nearly every country on Earth, spanning ages, genders, abilities, backgrounds, incomes, and identities. Aside from a passion for CrossFit, their common motivation seems elusive.
That’s because each reason to compete — each person’s “why” — is unique and personal. To be healthier. To live longer. To support your gym To set a model for your kids. To engage in a friendly competition with a friend. To raise a personal record. To push through exhaustion. To finish. To make it to the next level.
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That’s why this year’s Open is designed as a celebration of all of the people who take part, and each of their individual reasons for doing so. It will be the most accessible Open in history, allowing people to compete from their gyms, homes, or neighborhoods — with or without equipment — across divisions for all ages, abilities, and levels of experience.
Competitors are invited to compete in teams, with affiliates, or as individuals by division from teenagers all the way up to masters, and they can track their rankings using both standard and custom online leaderboards. Based on Open finish rank, the top 10 percent of age-group athletes (masters and teenagers) worldwide in each division will advance to the Age-Group Online Qualifier to compete for a spot at the CrossFit Games. This includes masters athletes starting at age 35, and teenage athletes ages 14-17. The top 20 athletes in the Online Qualifier from each division will earn a spot to compete at the CrossFit Games.
Though our reasons may be different, we share the common goals of striving, working, competing, and supporting each other, as we reach our very bests and achieve our “whys.” For three weeks, from Berlin to Buenos Aires, Boston to Bangkok, the CrossFit Open is all of us, joined together, competing, pushing, and fighting toward our individual goals as one supportive global community. For every reason. For everyone.
This is why.