July 16, 3:37 PM · Brenda Asheim – Seattle Fitness Examiner

After all the dust settled at the 2009 CrossFit Games in Aromas, California last weekend, two athletes were declared the “World’s Fittest Man and Woman.” But hundreds of other athletes competing in the Games left as champions in their own right, including many from the Seattle area.

Northwest CrossFit Wins Top Affiliate Cup.

Northwest CrossFit placed first out of 97 CrossFit Affiliate Teams from across the country. The rankings of other local CrossFit Affiliates include:

* Rainier CrossFit #27
* Lynnwood CrossFit #49
* North Shore CrossFit #60
* CrossFit Eastside #89

Local Athletes Take Second and Third Place in Individual Competitions.

Charity Vale, a petite 32-year-old from CrossFit Snohomish took 2nd place in the Women’s Individual Competition, burying every other woman except top finisher Tanya Wagner, and still taking time to cheer on her competition. Moe Kelsey, another local 32-year-old from Kirkland Fire took 3rd in the Men’s Individual Competition.

A Personal Perspective From The Trenches.

So what was it really like to be there competing side-by-side with the fittest people on the planet? CrossFit Eastside Affiliate Team athlete and Sno-Valley CrossFit instructor Jenny Oltmann tells it like this:

The CrossFit Championships scared the hell out of me. My team and I are going to compete against the fittest people in the world. Can I say that sounds a bit crazy?

The CrossFit Eastside Affiliate Team consisted of Jim Walsh, Gene Suna, Russell Hadley, Jeralee Anderson, my daughter Stefanie Oltmann and myself. Each of us have numerous strengths and weaknesses, but together, we are an awesome group of people. We had all trained hard at CrossFit Eastside, but we were not ready for what they put us through! The stadium workout was our first workout of the day. Stef, Russell, Gene and Jeralee would be the team. Stef started out with the wall balls — which turned out to be the nemesis of the whole team. The weighted balls had to be thrown at a 12-foot target on a slope. We did not practice that!

Stefanie Oltmann hurling the wall ball at a 12-foot target while CrossFit Eastside teammates Suna and Hadley look on (in black “get some go again” motto T’s).

Then as each one finished, they went to either the rower, box jumps, kettlebell swings or a dumbbell push press. Each movement asked for their all. And their all they gave. After all that came dead lifts. Men had to do 225 pounds, women 135 pounds. Then a 2-hour rest. The next phase was the dreaded hill run. We think we have hills in Washington. California has STEEP hills! And very sandy to boot. Stef started the first leg, the uphill part wasn’t too bad, the downhill part was torture! Each one of us took turns running the approximately 500 meter run up and down, then we all had to run as a team for a total of 2 laps. Don’t know our time, but it was extremely difficult. Another 2-hour rest then the last work out of the day. Overhead squats – heavy for 3 reps – to max rep pull ups. I have to say this was my favorite work out. Challenging, but the meaning of true team concept. Each one of us gave our all on each lift and our turns at the pull ups. I even PR’d on the overhead squats! And in the max rep pull ups. My team mates and I were all pleased with our workouts and our effort.

The rest of the games were simply amazing. Each person gave their all in 5 separate workouts on Saturday with approximately 2 hours of “rest” in-between each. It was amazing to watch these men and women who are in incredible shape bury their competition and then turn right around and cheer for them. It was a very inspiring sight to see. I was so impressed with the whole CrossFit community. People there are all supportive of everyone.

Next year we’ll be a bit more prepared for the workouts. We went to have fun and we had a lot of fun. Maybe we’ll take it a bit more seriously next year!”