Northern European Sectional in Stockholm!

So a couple of days have past since the Northern European Sectional in Stockholm, and it is time to gather thoughts and impressions from the event! So here we go!

Programming:
This had me wondering at first! Where were the chest to bar pull ups for women? They were right there for the taking from the mens WoDs? Why were there less HSPU for the women than for the men? There were a couple of questions like that, but they were put shame once the event got on the way!
The programming was briliant, and everyone had to fight to get through the WoDs! Noone got an easy day at the office in any WoD, or were presented a task virtually impossible to overcome! In the cases where where athletes fell at the hands of the time limit- I feel sure the reasons have to be found somewhere else than in the programming!
Double unders combined with Kettlebell thrusters and HSPU- I bet that one just creeped up under the skin of the athletes! Target burpees after box jumps and lunges- I bet that one just bit you in the proverbial ass:-)
All together very happy with the programming!

The event:
You just have to love the spectators at these events! They gave their all cheering on every single athlet outthere! Whether he/she was from their box or not. Whether he/she was goiong to make it or not? Whether they were winning or not? Nothing like that seemed to matter to the spectators who show up at these events! Everyone was cheered on from the begining to the very end with the same enthusiasm and deep felt respect! It warms my heart to see this and I just hope that it will always be like this at CrossFit events!
The event itself was as always very well organized, and went down like I would imagine CrossFit Sthlm wanted it to. It is often forgotten how hard it is to make these things work-and when you dont think about it, then that is because everything went the way it was supposed to!
Fighter Centre and CrossFit Sthlm have hosted certs, workshops, tournaments etc for years, and the experience gained from these events was displayed in all its might this weekend- everything went like clockwork.......swiss clockwork!

The athletes:
You have to love an event that is won by a swedish judoka- chased by some seriously dangerous danes, followed by a finish athlete who used to compete in aerobics, and competes in Superman briefs!
I wish I could tell you that the crowd that competed at the sectional were all hard core crossfitters, but the truth is that they came from all walks of life, and the only thing they shared was their love for CrossFit, and their desire to compete! They did a fantastic job displaying their athleticism and what CrossFit truly is- fighting hard, and cheering on their closest competitors! I have a feeling that even the ones that bet the dust felt like they had succeded!

Impressions:
Where did they ever find the Danish crowd? Fantastic Athletes and some of the most devoted crossfitters I have ever met! They cheered one everyone and made everyone feel equally wellcome- thank you, from the bottom of my heart!

Where does "Sasha" get his stubbornes and power from! Any and every regular spine should have broken from the reps he performed this weekend- still he tossed the weight around like it was paper wheights! He got a "no go" on probably a million reps, but still just kept going until victory was his... It is like looking at robocop! WOW!

What is the substance in the water in Finland? Somewhere outhere in the woods there is a source of -never say die attitude- and athletic ability, that I would just love to find! Every athlete from Finland had it in abundance this weekend!

I know I am not the neutral observer I pretend to be- but where does Jenny Jacobsen get it from? She was truly impressive during the entire event! Not only did she win in a very convincing fashion in every event- she is graceful in doing so! Immidiately after finishing her WoD she is cheering on her competitors. Not once did I hear her complain about a decision made by a judge, or a score calculation.. She embodies what this is all about, and I hope she makes it to the Games- CrossFit needs more people like her!
Be sure to buy her T-shirt coming out in April, and support her way to the Games:-)





All in all it was a great event with some very impressive feats from the athletes... I look forward to seeing as lot of these faces in Halmstad at the regionals:-)

Much love

Mads