"We’ve been focused and we are ready to compete on the big stage.”
~Chris Spigner
No one wants to be in last place.
After placing first at the 2012 Latin America Regional, Team CrossFit 7 Mile went on to finish a disappointing 41st place (out of 43) at the 2012 Reebok CrossFit Games.
Instead of allowing the finish to get them down, the team members say the experience motivated them to work harder.
This year, CrossFit 7 Mile will once again be representing the Latin America Region at the Games — this time, with more experience and strength, Chris Spigner says.
“It was our first trip to the Games, and to say the least, we were a little star struck and overwhelmed,” he says. “This year is different because we have prepared, knowing what we are going into. We’ve been focused and we are ready to compete on the big stage.”
Team CrossFit 7 Mile won this year’s Latin America Regional by a landslide, finishing first in every event, except for Event 5 (deadlift/box jump), in which they placed second by 15 seconds short. However, Spigner says the team did not perform to the best of their abilities during the weekend. He is sure they have more in their tank.
“Yes we did win, but it wasn’t the way we wanted,” he explains. “We had some struggles and setbacks that we didn’t have while we were at home. We were confident going into the weekend because of the way we had performed in our box, but we did worse on all the (events) except for the last one, which we never finished in our practice runs. We had a two-minute PR on that one. Go figure. But luckily, we did well enough to win and that has given us a renewed drive to prove to the world what we are capable of at the Games.”
Representing the women for CrossFit 7 Mile is Jenn Chailler, Wanda Brenton and Schammara McCarthy. Brenton is a two-time Games athlete for the team competition and finished first in the 2013 Open in Latin America. McCarthy finished this year’s Open in ninth place and Chailler in seventh.
On the men’s side, Martin van Zyl, Trevor Amodeo and Spigner round out the team.
“We have one guy that can do 20 muscle-ups, one that benches 330 lbs. plus, and one that back squats close to 500,” Spigner says. “So we have made pretty good progress compared to last year. We just weren’t putting up those numbers.”
In fact, Spigner believes it’s the team’s focus on lifting heavy and getting strong that separates them from the other teams in the Latin America Region.
“We put a lot of time and effort into our training. We meet at least two times a week, and have been training together for two years, and usually have a lot of heavy work. It seems to be the biggest weakness in our region,” Spigner says.
In order to ensure they finish well at the Games, everyone on the team is training five to six times per week, with at least two team workouts per week in the lead up to the big show.
“After our subpar performance in the Regional, we have stepped it up a little bit. We are refocused and training hard,” he says. “Working on all of our weaknesses and trying to make our strengths even better.
Our goal for the Games is to leave it out on the field and make sure that we have performed to the best of our abilities.”
