The Open Close Opens for 2024!

Welllllcome back to the Open for another season. It's been a big year of Openings! Vladamir Putin was Open to his first interview in a decade, Taylor Swift was open to coming to Australia (not Perth though), The Titanic Sub opened when it shouldn't have and this author isn't open to touching The Voice vote, Isarel/Palestine and Russia/Ukraine.

This year to celebrate India now having the world's largest population we decided to add in another team, along with having two new faction captains! Nikki will take over Purple and Jess will revive team Gold from the ashes.

Who could forget Green's win last year? Blue would have taken the title if they had lifted just 2kg more in the Thruster workout, but it wasn't to be. With Red and Blue having gone so close in the past, and two new captains chomping at the bit to prove their ability as stable leaders and useful members of society there's a lot on the line.

A big welcome and good luck to all the first-timers for this year! So the draft was held and the teams came out as:

Green Cowboys, captain: Jason

Rose M, Milla K, Michelle H, Emily C Cooper, Mike W, Anthony B, Quentin L, Christian L, Paul M, Craig M Jason: "Blood alone moves the wheels of history".

Purple Prodigy, captain Nikki Noah H, Ching T, Claire D, Bec V, Chris L, Fergus, David H, Tarek M, Andrew M, Kyle M, Joe M Nikki: "Last year I had some feedback for Liz on what I thought she could have done better, now it's time to put it into practice".

Blue Sky Bisons, captain Wacey Jaclyn M, Tobey R, Kristina S, Nat D, Cam W, Tim Day, Fraser, Duncan L, Ben NL, Shaun B, Jordie Wacey: "The only possible thing that could stop this team is some sort of low skill, high rep bodyweight capacity test. I don't see that coming up.."

The Red Rockets, captain Nate Cristina G, Laura G, Saba K, Eimer M, Jen H, Peter D, Ervin, Lane S, Guy S, Ben C, Ivan M Nate: "When the Red Rockets come out, you know it's time for business".

Gold Standard, captain Jess

Julietta G, Abbie, Marshall, Tyler G, Helen B, Molly, Grace, David Hi, Usaid, Daniel D, Adam L Jess: "Small changes appear to make no difference until you cross a critical threshold".

So after the mushroom clue the workout was pretty obvious, yet still there was some excitement around the announcement. Dave Castro's whiteboard resembled something closer to insane asylum wall scrawling rather than something delicately programmed as a cornerstone piece to the most participated fitness event in the world. Regardless, we would be doing lots of burpees.

Things Gary heard: _ "What do you think of my pacing strategy, I'm looking to go 90 seconds faster" - lots of people. _ "Judging Duncan I thought this WOD was going to be really tough, but it actually wasn't too bad" - Molly observing Duncan make things look harder than they are. _ "I've still got a Quasimodo back 3 days later' - Ed _ Nate: "Come on Dave give me 5 more reps" Dave: "You give me 5 more reps". Dave Hall looking for some assistance...

_ "When I started the 15 burpees I could taste vomit in my mouth and I realized I had gone out too hard". Angus, who finished with a post WOD spew.

_ "I wasn't going to do it again but once Pete beat me I had to redo". Adam, after knocking off about 3 minutes from his initial time (and beating Pete).

"I would have won this I reckon if I wasn't pregnant" - Abbie. "I've decided I'm going to sign up to the Open" - Kate, who didn't sign up.

Notable performances: _ Angus, Daniel D, Kyle B, Jordie B, Ed C, Tyler G, Andrew M, Craig M, Jaclyn M, Julieta G, Saba K and Noah H for doing their first Open

_ Michelle committed to her burpees so much her knees bled!

_ Craig attending the 5.30am class and not doing the Open workout. A sleeper agent to take Green down?

Week 1 standings:

"If you have the choice of winning or losing you would rather win". With some close margins this week, if you had just gone a little bit faster it might have made all the difference. 5th: Blue Sky Bisons: 138 minutes, 43 seconds 4th: Green Cowboys: 137 minutes, 22 seconds 3rd: Purple Prodigy: 136 minutes, 10 seconds 2nd: Gold Standard: 132 minutes, 11 seconds 1st: Red Rockets: 128 minutes, 43 seconds With a commanding victory, the Red Rockets must certainly be the favourites and are certainly standing tall and proud after their first week's effort. However, with a big chance of two scored workouts this week, anything can happen.

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On a serious note, well done to everyone who registered. While it's not something that worries me if people do or don't do The Open, and it's something the coaches don't want to push on people - I'm incredibly proud that every year we have such great participation rates. It's never easy putting yourself out there, giving it your all, being vulnerable and putting your name up alongside the whole world.

I really love everyone getting together as a community, cheering each other on, celebrating PRs, pushing boundaries and doing things and pushing to a place that previously they didn't think they were able.

But my favourite thing about The Open is everyone's own personal growth. It's hard. For many and most, it is scary doing the workout alongside someone else while also being counted and judged. You do feel nervous when putting up a score alongside other people in the world. It's a great chance to overcome something and come out the other side more confident in your ability to be resilient and challenge yourself.

If you're worried or waiting until you're "ready", or "fit enough" or "can commit fully" then don't worry - that day will never come. I've done every Open workout since it began 14 years ago and not once had I thought before, "Yeah I really feel great" or "I'm fully prepared". But once again, this is another mirror to life. You will probably never feel ready for what's coming but you will have to do it anyway, and you always make it through, just like you'll make it through this!

At times you will be put outside your comfort zone, but you will also create some lasting memories. Ask anyone about any of the open workouts they've done - they will be able to tell you something they remember. So for the first-year rookie, lean on the veterans. Veterans help out or give some encouragement to someone new and tell them something you wish you had known. But most importantly - have fun, relax and enjoy the experience! Just like any other CrossFit workout: everyone is too wrapped up in what they are doing to care about your score - so don't worry! Well done to every single person in a faction who has put themselves out there and registered. I'm extremely proud of you all. And while midway through several workouts you may be questioning why you signed up for this, you will look back and be glad you did!