Looks like one of our very own members, Apollonia Helm, who in addition to being a Touchstone member, is an absolutely amazing athlete, performed extremely well at the 2009 NorCal Qualifier for the 2009 CrossFit Games and as such, will be advancing!

The 2009 CrossFit Games will take place July 10th through 12th. We were lucky enough to get some inside information on what all went down. Check it out:

The official results are in and Apollonia Helm will be representing CrossFit East Bay at the 2009 CrossFit Games on July 10th to 12th (She came in fifth). Local athlete Candace Hamilton of CrossFit Oakland will be representing CFO (she came in second).

Coming in to day two, Polly was in a three-way tie for third place. 16 women RXd the day one WODs (out of a possible 20 slots) and were able to advance to day two.

The day two WOD was the following:

22 deadlifts @ 315#/185#
Farmers walk with 45#/25# dumbbells to top of inner loop (hill)
22 thrusters with 45#/25# dumbbells
Farmers walk with 45#/25# dumbbells to bottom of inner loop (hill)
Run to pull-up bar and do 22 chest-to-bar pull-ups
Run to top of outer loop (hill)
22 overhead squats @ 95#/65#
Run to bottom of inner loop (hill)

The hill in question was extremely steep to say the least. Not one competitor managed to run the whole thing*.

Polly finished in a solid 17:42 for fifth place and a spot in the 2009 CrossFit Games. Only 150 athletes worldwide were able to qualify out of a field of thousands. To put in perspective, there were 200 competitors at the NorCal Qualifier and only 10 slots for the games available.

Polly's superb skills as a generalist and the specific training she did coming up to the qualifier served her well here and she finished strong. Her main complaint about the WODs, in fact, was that she did not go hard enough and was still able to stand up at the end. We will have to work on that going forward. Thanks again to Gita who designed the ramp-up training for Polly with a bit of input here and there.

GO POLLY!

* Gita tried out the WOD post-qualifier for fun and was one of only two people to run the entire steep section bottom to top with no breaks. The other was Aaron MacIntire of CrossFit Oakland.

Congratulations and best of luck in July!

Labels: CrossFit, CrossFit Championships, Featured Members, Touchstone Members

Just got this one from Vaughn, our GM at our Sacramento Pipeworks gym and it shows a lot about just how impressive our Touchstone Bike Club members and riders really are. One of our riders, Peter Harney recently took part and competed in the Prairie City Race Series in Sacramento and did amazingly well.

Peter races in the Sport 34-39 Division and just took 8th place in the very first race of the series, and then 7th this week. What's more impressive is that he actually plans on racing in all 12 events that constitute the Prairie City Race Series and also just signed up to do the Downieville XC. We feel lazy just writing that.

To top it all off, and what I'm sure Peter would say is even more important than these races, is the fact that he is the proud Dad of a brand new two-and-a-half week old baby girl. Bottom line: Congratulations Peter, and keep up the great work...you're making Touchstone look very, very good.

Labels: Congratulations, Featured Members, Touchstone Bike Club, Touchstone Climbing

At our Sacramento Pipeworks gym, for the last 7 years we've been doing a "featured member" series. Every so often, our staff members will pick someone who they feel exemplifies the Pipeworks dedication to health, diversity, fun and sense of community.

When this person is chosen, their photo will be displayed for a time along with their answers to some very silly questions we asked them. Vaughn over at Pipeworks sent us this about some of their recent Featured Members, and what struck him, was how diverse our membership is here at Touchstone Climbing. Here's what he had to say:

"While compiling this collage, I was struck by how truly diverse our membership is: young and old, men and women, boys and girls, husbands and wives, sons and daughters, people of all shapes, sizes, colors and dispositions. We have featured individuals, as well as brothers/sisters, fathers/sons and couples. The common thread seems to be that they are all happy and healthy, and have all played a part in shaping what a great place this gym has become!"

Thanks everyone who has become a member!

Labels: Featured Members, members, Membership, Sacramento Pipeworks, Touchstone Climbing