Latin America Team Report: Day 3

May 11, 2014

Brittney Saline

Latin America will send one family to represent nearly 500 affiliates at the 2014 Reebok CrossFit Games: the BIGG Friends family.

Latin America will send one family to represent nearly 500 affiliates at the 2014 Reebok CrossFit Games: the BIGG Friends family.

Latin America will send one family to represent nearly 500 affiliates at the 2014 Reebok CrossFit Games: the BIGG Friends family.

Named after Bigg CrossFit Recoleta’s foundersIgnacio Alsogaray and Barbara Mazzoni—team BIGG Friends sealed its spot at the CrossFit Games with 39 points after eight events, one-point less than second-place finishers, SP CrossFit Hulks Team.

Though Bigg CrossFit Recoleta has only been open a year-and-a-half, its team finished in the top 10 in seven events, including two first-place finishes in Events 2 and 3.

“We are really happy,” said team member Nacho Perillo. “We (made) a great effort. This is our first competition, and we (showed) to all that the sacrifice (was) rewarding.”

The team’s fans, clad in white capes reading “BIGG,” erupted in song after the team tied CrossFit SP Hulks Team for second in Event 8 and taking first overall: “No puedo parar este sentimiento (I can’t stop this feeling) … ole, ole, ole!”

The win meant just as much to the team’s community of support as it did to the athletes on the floor.

“We are really excited about going to (the) Games,” said a fan and member of the affiliate. “We are really close as a community, that's (why we are called) ‘BIGG Friends.’ To us, athletes are everything.”

Event 7

For the first time all weekend, teammates paired up for the penultimate regional event. However, sharing the spotlight didn’t mean sharing the work.

At each station of the conga line—a 500-m row, 50 deadlifts at 275 lb. for men and 185 lb. for women, and 50 toes-to-bars—the “resting” partner performed a secondary movement: 125 double-unders during the row, a static barbell hold during the deadlifts and a dead hang from the rig during toes-to-bars. Athletes had to trade work and “rest” every five reps.

In most heats, teams had all pairs working 10 minutes into the event, making the floor look like a factory assembly line of fitness mass production.

Several women in early heats struggled with the double-unders. Their partners sat on the rower while they stumbled, donkey-kicking the floor, each attempt more aggravated than the one before.

Both men and women in the first two heats struggled to deadlift the 275-lb. and 185-lb. barbell, and with no-reps on the toes-to-bars. Each issue was an error in communication, with some pairs doubling up on the work.

As in Event 6, the win came down to teams’ final couples.

Team BIGG Friends led for the first half of the 21-minute event. But it sent its most efficient workers first, while its second couple repped out the toes-to-bars, the third was still stranded on the jump rope. That’s when CrossFit Santiago stole the lead.

The two teams met on the deadlifts, and it looked like BIGG Friends might make up for lost ground.

But again they struggled with the male lifting in singles and doubles while his female encouraged him onward. Every second lost shaking out was a second gained by CrossFit Santiago, and Santiago was first to the toes-to-bars at 15:30.

By the time BIGG Friends joined the party at the rig, CrossFit Santiago had less than a third of its reps left to do.

CrossFit Santiago team members didn’t realize they had won when they dropped from the bar after rep 50. After their judge gestured wildly toward the finish mat, they sprinted to their teammates, leaping onto each other’s shoulders.

The second team to get all six athletes on the mat was CrossFit SP Hulks team, following at 19:15.

Their first event win of the weekend, team CrossFit Santiago was elated with the win at 18:03.

“Today, with the adrenaline and all of our community supporting us, we were able to go a little bit faster (than planned),” said teammate Cristobal Toledo.

They credit the fans in the stands, and the local turf, for the extra boost.

“The CrossFit Santiago community gave us a lot of energy,” said teammate Logan O’Neill. “We are in our home, so this was thanks to them.”

Event 7 Results
1. CrossFit Santiago (18:03)
2. CrossFit SP Hulks Team (19:15)
3. CrossFit Revolver (19:27)

Event 8

The final event was a heartbreaker.

After repping through 49 pull-ups, athletes poured all that remained in the tank into the seven heavy overhead squats that followed—185 lb. for men and 115 lb. for women.

“To me (it) was impossible,” said Luis Casali, of team CrossFit 1810. “My (overhead squat) PR is 225 lb., and this was 185 lb. With the pull-up volume I didn't have the strength to clean the bar in order to do (the) overhead squats easily.”

The 49 pull-ups before the squats were just a warm-up compared with the struggle under the bar overhead. Some athletes needed to perform a full clean and jerk to get the bar to their backs, spending 10 or more seconds bringing the barbell down only to lose it in the bottom.

Team BIGG Friends was the overall leader by one point going into the final event. They knew they’d need to pull off one final, great performance to keep the lead.

Indeed, BIGG Friends put on the main show for most of the event with unbroken overhead squats by each of its first three athletes. They had the crowd screaming in elation.

At the 11:04, team BIGG Friends’ second female hit the mat after her overhead squats, done in two sets. SP CrossFit Hulk’s Team’s second woman hit the finish mat 10 seconds later.

The teams’ final males commanded the room when they arrived at their bars at 12:35, side-by-side. But they couldn’t give quite the same performance as their teammates before them, each stumbling to get the bar overhead and struggling to reach depth.

Both were forced to drop and rest halfway through the seven reps. While they stood, hunched over their bars, team CrossFit Moema got busy.

Distracted by the dramatic race between BIGG Friends and SP CrossFit Hulks Team, no one noticed the Brazilian team making up for lost ground.

Single reps aren’t flashy, but for CrossFit Moema they proved more effective.

Even with that last push effort made by Moema athletes, it was BIGG Friends and SP CrossFit Hulks Team that had it's two male athletes hit the mat at 16:59 for a tie. 

Event  8 Results
1T. BIGG Friends (16:59
1T. SP CrossFit Hulks Team (16:59)
3. CrosFit Brasil (17:05)

Final Standings
1. BIGG Friends (39)—Games Qualifier
2. SP CrossFit Hulks Team (40)
3. CrossFit Revolver (54)