CFSBK's Diary: Hosting Workout 13.2 for the 2013 CrossFit Open

Last year, CFSBK hosted the live announcement, demonstration, and after party for Workout 13.2 of the 2013 CrossFit Open. With the 14.1 announcement happening today, we'd thought we'd offer a sneak peak about our experience hosting last year.

It all started with a rather cryptic email from Dave Castro, asking if our gym would be available on a particular day for HQ to use. I called Adrian Bozman (an honorary member of CFSBK’s motorcycle crew) to see if he knew anything about it and he suggested it was regarding the upcoming Open announcements. Naturally, I was stoked. Dave confirmed that was the case when we finally spoke, and as we started making arrangements, he told me to keep it a secret until he would announce the venues on the Games site. That part wasn’t awesome, since I wanted to tell everyone.

We closed down our gym on Tuesday, March 12 because CrossFit HQ needed to set up all the live-streaming technology. That day, the athletes—Annie Thorisdottir and Lindsey Valenzuela—came in to see the space and hung out with our coaches. CrossFit HQ staff also visited and we all shared a meal that evening. The energy and excitement the day before was almost as awesome as the event itself.

That Wednesday evening, we set up a holding area at Littlefield NYC, a bar across the street from CFSBK, and when everything was ready, the crowd spilled into the gym. Because parking lots and open areas outside gyms pretty much don’t exist in NYC given how limited everyone is on space—and because we had to obey New York’s occupancy laws—we gave out 350 tickets to the event ahead of time. A bunch of CrossFit web-lebrities attended along with our members and others, including Dave, Adrian, Rory Mckernan, E.C. Synkowski, Travis Bagent, Sevan Matossian, and the man himself, Greg Glassman. It was a tight fit, but luckily, only a couple of cops showed up. Of course, they were also CrossFitters and were more interested in taking pictures with Annie than enforcing any laws.

One of my favorite parts of the whole shebang involved taking Dave, Adrian, and Rory to a stereotypical Brooklyn hipster barbershop to get haircuts and straight razor shaves before the event. You can see some of the behind the scenes events on this HQ video. HQ also hosted a great after party on Wednesday, which lots of folks stuck around for. 

All told, we were incredibly honored and excited to put on this event with CrossFit HQ and our neighbors at Littlefield NYC. It was the first year that each Open workout was announced live at various affiliates. Good luck to all the affiliates that are hosting this year! It's going to be a great experience, and we can't wait to watch all the announcements go down this year. 

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To see the entire photo set from the event, click here!