Rules of the Game
The New 2013 CrossFit Games Rule Book is out! I know. I could not wait to read it either. If you want to have the experience all to yourself, you can download it, or you can read some of the highlights.
The Open:
The CrossFit Open will start March 7th and end April 7th. The Open is performed and validated at CrossFit Affiliates, or they can be videoed and sent into CrossFit Headquarters for judging. They have become stricter about both affiliate validation and video submission. The Coach that validates the scores online must pass an online course before being allowed that privilege (not a rule before this year). Also, if a Coach would like to be considered as a judge for the Regionals or the Games, they must pass the online test and volunteer to judge video submissions from the Open. The video submissions have always had many guidelines, but this year, if you put in your score and the judges that view your video has more than a 5-rep discrepancy then your WOD is not valid. They are giving away about $2000 to each top man and woman for each WOD, but they only award those that were videoed.
There are some added divisions to the Games this year. They have divided the Master’s division into 40-44, 45-49. 50-54, 55-59 and 60 +. While the top 48 individual Men, top 48 individual Women and the top 30 teams are invited to a Regional competition, the top 20 Master’s from each region are invited to the Games.
Teams in the Open work as they did before. Each aspiring team member does the Open WODs as individuals, and if they have registered for the Team, the top 3 males and the top 3 females contribute to the overall Team score. If the Team qualifies for the Regionals, they put 4 Males and 4 Females on the roster. Only 3 of each gender get to compete, the others are alternates in the event of injury.
The odd thing about Teams is that even if the top 6 that get the Team to the Regionals decide (and were qualified) to compete as individuals, the Team still goes to the Regionals. In this case, the only rule about team members is that they had to do at least one qualified and validated WOD during the Open while registered for the Team; their score never had to contribute to the winning Team score. There were several rules about Team members and how often they trained at the affiliate they were registered for- apparently there have been some ringers in the past. They went as far to say that it is the team members’ responsibility to have video and training logs that would be evidence of having spent more than half the time training with their registered Team if asked at the Regionals.
The Regionals:
We are in the Southwest Region. The top three of each division in each region will go on to the Games (remember, no Master’s at the Regionals). Individuals win $3000, $2000, and $1000 in order of place, and Teams win $3000, $1500, and $750 in order of place. To advance to the Games all Regional winners must submit to a drug test.
The Games:
The Fittest on Earth will be named at the Games! Along with bragging rites, individuals win $250,000, $50,000, and $25,000 by place, and teams win $30,000, $12,000, and $6,000 in order of place. Master’s in each division win $3000, $1000, and $500 in order of place.
The Games have really grown since I first started CrossFitting; there is much more sponsorship and money involved and we are in the spotlight. Enforcing the standards has become more of an issue in going from the Open to the Regionals, and we even have drug testing to enter the Games. So, if you are going to the Games this year- read the handbook and make sure that you have dotted your i’s and crossed your t’s as they seem to be looking much harder into your qualifications.
