Canada West Team Report: Day 2

May 10, 2014

Lisa Zane, Laurel Peters and Jaimie Bougie

The battle was between Team Taranis and the Fraser Valley Centaurs.  

As Day 2 of the team competition comes to a close, the Centaurs have the overall lead over Taranis.

 

The big story of Day 2 was the close race between Team Taranis and the Fraser Valley Centaurs, as teams threw down with thrusters, rope climbs, strict handstand push-ups, hang power cleans and burpees.

Team Events 4 & 5

No woman in the first two heats of team competition was able to complete their thrusters and rope climbs within the time cap.

The Centaurs took an early lead in Heat 3, quickly banging out flawless reps and connecting with smooth transitions. Taranis trailed close behind, and CrossFit 604 chased at their heels, pushed forward by a massive fan base cheering over the music as their women tried to catch up to the leaders. 

Taranis, whose athletes took the rope climbs two at a time, took a one-rep lead over the Centaurs on the last set of climbs. With 15 seconds left on the clock, and one ascent remaining, Taranis made it to the top of the rig and back, touching down on the finishing mat with just three seconds left, becoming the only women to complete the work under the time cap.

“We had to pick a pace,” said Angie Hay of Team Taranis. “It was daunting watching them pull so far ahead, but we kept our pace and pulled through.”

For the men, team VO2 Max was the only team to finish the workout under the time cap in Heat 1, becoming the first team to do so.

“We had our rep counts down to a T,” said Brett Shillington of VO2 Max. “We executed it and it went exactly as we wanted it to.”

Following on their heels was CrossFit Brio-Flex who won Heat 2. In the same heat, Drew Jackson of Sherwood Park severely injured his ankle, forcing the team to withdraw from the competition.

“I dropped from the top, trying to make the time cap, and ended up rolling my ankle–I was going to attempt the strict handstand push-ups (in the next event) but it would require me to at least walk and I can’t put any weight on it right now,” he said, adding that the team was gutted by their result, but put the safety of their team first.

In Heat 3, the Centaurs got off to an early lead, jumping from the rope and hitting the second set of thrusters just after the three-minute mark. With flawless transitions that included some Indiana-Jones style rolls under the glass wall, the Centaurs held their lead to take the event. But second place was up for grabs, with Studeo 55 and 604 fighting it out down to the last rope climb. Studeo 55 finished just three seconds ahead.

“We trusted each other to do big sets, and our goal was one set each for each round,” said Nate Beveridge of the Centaurs. “We’re all pretty tall, so we got up and down pretty quick with the rope climbs. On the second set of thrusters, we were getting no-repped, so we had to do more than anticipated.”

Team Event 4 Results
1. Team Taranis (9:55)
2. The Centaurs (10:02)
3. CFV (10:06)

Team Event 5 Results
1. The CENTAURS (8:15)
2. Studeo 55 (8:57)
3. CrossFit 604 (9:00)

Team Event 6

Event 6 all came down to Heat 3, which brought out the heavy artillery as the first men in the relay kicked up onto the wall, setting a blistering pace on the strict handstand push-ups.

While the teams came off the wall almost in pure synchrony, the Centaurs would quickly take the lead. But Studeo 55’s collective skill on the barbell powered them into first place just before the six-minute mark.

Four minutes later, Team Taranis jumped into the front-runner position with Angie Hay cutting through her first set of handstand push-ups like butter, giving her team a solid lead. While she was flying, the Centaurs appeared to be in gridlock, with Kurt Baker, their last male athlete, getting stuck on his handstand push-ups.

Taranis held their lead, notching first, followed by the Centaurs and Studeo 55.

“We do a lot of strict handstand push-ups at our gym so the event was good for us,” said Jackie Snell from Team Taranis, adding, “We’re excited to see how we do in the pairs workout tomorrow–it will be a lot of fun working with the guys head-to-head.”

“We came here to work out,” said Nate Beveridge of the Centaurs. “We will work out tomorrow, we are going to do our best and it’s going to come out the way it does.”

As Day 2 of the team competition comes to a close, the Centaurs have the overall lead over Taranis by just one point, pulling even farther away from CrossFit 604 in third. Tomorrow, these top two teams will narrow in on qualifying for yet another CrossFit Games, while 604 fights to grasp a spot.

Team Event 6 Results
1. Team Taranis (20:37)
2. The Centaurs (22:04)
3. Studeo 55 (22:05)

Overall Standings
1. The Centaurs (10)
2. Taranis (11)
3. CrossFit 604 (30)
4. Studeo 55 (33)
5. CrossFit Brio-flex (53)
6. CrossFit North Vancouver (62)
7. HYBRID (68)
8. Synergy Strength (70)
9. CrossFit AI (74)
10. Sheepdog CrossFit (76)