Crossfit Open 14.1 Reactions: A Change in Direction?

I’ve had a night to digest the announcement of Crossfit’s Open WOD 14.1 and, while I thought I’d wake up with a better feeling and understanding of the surprise, I’m still very torn on what Dave Castro threw down. There are some things about 14.1 that I understand.

• I understand that HQ likes “repeat” WODs so that they can later brag about how much everyone improved. Mark my words, we will see a post on the Games site within a couple weeks concerning what percentage of the population posted improved scores (granted it’ll be a small sample size considering only 26K people were signed up for 2011 and not necessarily all of that pool is currently signed up for 2013).

• I understand that this is Crossfit’s baby and they can program absolutely anything that they wish.

• I also understand that this is a competition and thus just about any movement, and then some, that’s ever showed up on Crossfit.com is an option for HQ to program. We all knew that double unders would show up at some point of the Open. The surprise though was them being the very first movement in the opening WOD. I would feel very differently if double unders were used as they have been in the previous two years or even if this exact WOD was used later in the competition.

• Lastly, I understand that the primary goal of the Open is to get the correct people to the Regionals competition and every athlete who makes it to Regionals (or for Masters straight to the Games), should be able to knock out double unders with ease.

So what’s my problem if everything above is true?
Crossfit HQ goes out of the way leading up the Open to “sell” it as an inclusive competition. They post countless videos, including several with Glassman himself, encouraging anyone and everyone to sign up and “prove yourself.” They encourage those who are brand new to Crossfit and even encourage those who’ve never done Crossfit. Glassman talked in one of the videos about athletes from other sports and them proving themselves if they think they’re truly a match for Rich Froning. I guess what I’m driving at is my frustration isn’t with how 14.1 was programmed, instead my frustration is with how it was sold leading up to the announcement.

If Crossfit wants the Open to simply be a vehicle to get the most deserving athletes to Regionals, then I agree with, understand and fully support that goal. If that is the case though, 200,000 don’t need to sign up for the Open in 2015. I certainly don’t need to sign up for the Open next year and maybe that entirely ok with Crossfit HQ. Maybe they’d like to establish a clear line between the person who does Crossfit for sport and the person who does Crossfit for exercise. And if that’s the case, it won’t change my love for Crossfit or my passion to write, think, watch or follow the sport. I could not be clearer about that last point, while I’m disappointed and/or discouraged in the programming of 14.1; it certainly hasn’t changed my passion for Crossfit as a whole. Perhaps I look at the Open differently now but that’s ok. I’ll struggle through and Crossfit will crown the fittest man, woman and team in a couple months and all will be right with the world.