"You realize how special people around you are, and now that we’ve reflected on that and we know Rohde will be OK, we can enjoy the competition and hopefully qualify.”
The CrossFit Fury Bomb Squad has endured much over the last several weeks. In addition to training for the South West Regional, a member of the Bomb Squad Team, Alfred Rohde, had an accident that nearly ended in tragedy.
On Tuesday evening the week before the Regional, while riding his motorcycle, Rohde was hit and suffered a traumatic head injury. When CrossFit Fury owner Peter Egyed received the call, he could only hope his close friend and teammate would pull through.
“We got a call on Tuesday night explaining that Rohde was hit and that he had substantial injuries,” Egyed says. “He broke his left tibia, his right ankle and his head suffered traumatic damage.”
Rohde remained in the intensive care unit for five days with bleeding in the brain that required close monitoring. He miraculously pulled through and after the five-day stint in ICU, Rohde was moved to a regular medical floor for the remainder of his stay in the hospital.
“He is extremely fortunate to have made it out alive,” Egyed says. “Many people don’t survive motorcycle accidents.”
On top of the unexpected accident, the team is much different from the third place Games qualifier from last year. With three new members including Liz Khoury, Jason Jamison and Kyle Taylor, it has been a lesson in perseverance for the group. But expectation wise, nothing has changed.
“Losing Will Trujillo and Deana Gillespie to injury was definitely a tough situation for the team,” says Egyed, who decided to compete as an individual this year. “This year, I wanted to go individual, so the team has a different look all around. But the group we have assembled has proven that they belong here and they expect to do well.”
Veteran team members Aimee Berencsi, Katie Jo Peterson and Josh McDaniel round out the Bomb Squad.”
“We have a lot of CrossFit to go and we feel pretty confident that where we are right now is a great spot to go back to the Games,” said the team.
Currently sitting in sixth after four events, the team has some work to do. But the intensity and drive remains strong for the defending Games qualifiers. The added motivation to do well for Rohde simply adds to that.
At the Regional, CrossFit Fury competitors are wearing T-shirts that read: “Living the Dream.” This is a tribute to their friend and teammate, Rhode.
“We spoke to him yesterday via phone chat,” says the team. “He gave us a pep talk and it has really motivated how we’ve performed so far, and, obviously, how we will perform in the next few days.”
Egyed says Rhode makes an impact at CrossFit Fury.
“He is really just an all-around important figure at our gym. Not only was he a member of the team, but he is a coach and one of the few full-time employees we have at Fury,” Egyed says. “Not to mention his motivation that makes our box what it is.”
In the midst of the incident, the Bomb Squad added their alternate, Jason Jameson to the team even though he was not expecting to compete.
“Our alternate PR’d his overhead squat today,” Egyed says. “Life is good.
“At the end of the day, you get so caught up in day to day life that you forget what is important and this really opened our eyes to that. You realize how special people around you are, and now that we’ve reflected on that and we know Rohde will be OK, we can enjoy the competition and hopefully qualify.”
