New England Firebreather Festival Recap
Mike Greiner, Kristin Pineo, James “Shorty” Schortemeyer, and Cal Sheedy headed out west to Natick and CrossFit New England this past weekend shooting for Jackie PRs, and to face the rest of the challenges laid out for them at the New England Firebreather Festival.
This was Mike and KP’s first CrossFit competition. The decision to compete truly transformed Mike’s daily workouts into training sessions. He worked very hard, and made some great progress, so much so that he switched to the RX division. Mike was a consistent fast starter, being the first one in his heat to complete the squats in the back squat/handstand push-up event, the first one in his heat off his rower in Jackie, and thrustering the 185# bar to meet the shoulder-to-overhead requirement early in the AMRAP event. He also showed he can finish strong, passing several competitors on his way to completing the long running event. With experience, I’m sure Mike will only continue to improve as a competitor.
For KP the workouts came with familiarity and fear. Her weekend began with Jackie, her first, and favorite CrossFit workout, and ended with a long run, with challenging loading and movements scattered across the events in between. The stifling heat inside the box at CFNE would not allow for a big Jackie PR for KP, and served as quite the introduction to competition. She pushed on from there, deadlifting, squatting, cleaning, squatting some more, and push pressing, all with a big smile. KP wrapped up her weekend by doing one of her least favorite things, a long run. With hills. And a plate carry. She completed the event in the time cap, and even out ran a few of the other athletes. What’s most important though is that KP did it. She signed up for something scary, stepped up, and saw it through.
Shorty and Cal were the veterans in the crew, and performed like it. Both looked like they had a plan going into each event, and went to work at the word “GO!”. Shorty posted a 2nd place result in the deadlift and shuttle sprint “floater” event, on his way to finishing 25th in the men’s scaled division. Cal’s best finish was 10th in the run, but she also placed in the teens in a couple others, leading to a final standing of 12th in the women’s scaled division. Another great weekend for Sheedemeyer.
It was great to see our athletes supporting one another throughout the weekend, and to see other members of the CrossFit Fenway community out there too. Thanks to Hudson for the excellent photography. I’m very proud of all of our competitors, their efforts, and the way they represented CrossFit Fenway.
September 10, 2012
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