Catalyst Games 2011

Result Breakdown

Rx 

Cameron Wilson	2	7	3	1	13
Brent Rose	4	2	5	3	14
Steve Leroux	10	3	2	2	17
Jeremy Paquin	12	5	1	6	24
Ed Cappelli	7	6	7	4	24
Cody MacDonald	4	9	4	9	26
Clint Snider	7	8	6	7	28
Brad Rennison	16	1	10	6	33
Ted Fryia	16	4	9	9	38
Phil Strickler	12	10	8	10	40
Matt Moore	2	14	11	14	41
Aaron Bell	8	11	14	11	44
Robert Shaughnessy	7	15	13	13	48
Joe Scott	14	13	12	12	51

 

Melanie Rose	4	1	4	2	11
Lisa Proctor	3	3	2	5	13
Jo Ann Bailey	7	4	1	5	17
Cindy Henson	3	5	7	3	18
Alicia Hephill	7	2	3	7	19
Anna Cappelli	1	7	6	6	20
Sarah Palumbo	7	6	6	1	20

S1

 

Ben Carroll	4	1	1	1	7
Mark Vourck	2	2	2	2	8
Patrick McCann	1	3	7	5	16
Glen Harrison	4	6	3	3	16
Dan Smith	6	7	4	4	21
Richard LeBlanc	6	4	6	6	22
Darren Linquist	7	5	5	7	24

 

Deb McLean	8	3	1	6	18
Betty-Lou Mancuso	12	2	2	5	21
Amy Leroux	13	1	6	2	22
Esther Gartshore	9	8	3	3	23
Miranda Mayhew	4	6	7	8	25
Kathleen McGuire	4	10	5	7	26
Carolle Robinson	2	4	10	11	27
Meagan Vance	8	5	4	10	27
Margo Beaudoin	10	7	11	1	29
Marnie Scott	6	11	9	4	30
Michelle Irwin	5	10	12	9	36
Mary-Ann Linquist	1	12	13	13	39
Katherine Fryia	11	13	8	12	44

S2

 

Pamela Didonato	8	1	1	1	11
Jessica King	1	3	4	4	12
Keri Schinkel	6	2	4	2	14
Carrie Smale	3	7	2	5	17
Lori Bycho	6	5	7	3	21
Palma Gervasi	3	8	7	6	24
Katie Griffin	6	6	7	7	26
Ann Piscopo	7	4	8	8	27

Feature Video from SooNews.ca

Winners, all!

It was a wild display of elite athleticism. And at the end, the winners were a bunch of....teachers?!?!

 

 

 

 
 
 

Full details coming up today.  In all categories, first place was decided (and in some cases, 2nd and 3rd, too!) both by points - which were tied - and then by placings in other events (and sometimes those were tied, too...so we had to go further into the placings from every event!) Literally, every single rep of every single event counted at the end.  There's perhaps never been an athletic event with scores this close at the end.

"Belief"

"...shattering the fallacy of the immovable object by becoming the unstoppable force..."

Belief from Patrick Cummings on Vimeo.

Don't Shoot The Piano Player

When I was a kid, my parents thought it would be a good idea to have me learn to play the piano.

I hate the piano. But they were bigger than me back then.  And so, from age four to age eight, I dutifully marched to the Kindergarten room after school to sit beside Mrs. Powis after all the other kids had gone home. You've never seen a kid move slower than I did at 3:30 on Mondays, friend; I'm sure the toes wore off my little Chucks from dragging the whole way.

One day, in an effort to motivate the small-for-his-age redhead with the miniscule attention span, Mrs. Powis gave me a song she referred to as an "Indian War Song." It was basically just pounding the keys - "Chopsticks" at their most violent - but it was enough to get me on the bench every week.  So I'd practice just enough that she'd let me play the "war songs" every week.

Boy or girl, timid or charismatic, every kid who learns music goes through the fiery gates marked RECITAL. I was terrified. I quivered backstage, feigning interest in Mrs. Powis' doll collection, trying not to throw up. I didn't know what a 'heart rate' was at the time, but I'm sure it was in the stratosphere. At my turn, possibly noticing how my green face was clashing with my red hair, the chubby old lady gave me this advice: "Don't worry, they're all going to clap anyway." It calmed me a bit: I'd rely not on my skill, but on the generosity of my audience (something I still do every day.)

Thursday night, post-WOD, as I chatted with Lacy, Angela and Lindsay, I brought up the Catalyst Games.  "No way!" they all balked.  "I'm not ready for that!" I told them they were ready; said all the stuff I'd said to everyone last year, and the year before; did my best to be encouraging.

What I wish I'd said was, "You're not going to win a trophy.  Doesn't matter.  Everyone at the Games is going to win, because I want them to win. I don't want them to win in a "Everybody gets a ribbon! You're all special!" kind of way, because that's stupid.  It's a contest.  Someone will place first, and someone else will place last.  Doesn't matter if it's you."

What I wish I'd said was, "Look at the post-Games essays from last year.  They were about autovictory: overcoming the self to better the self.  Using competition as a tool to motivate, and measure."

What I wish I'd said was, "No one else will even notice your results, because they feel exactly the same way you do. They're scared. They're training because they don't want to fail. But fear is the best motivator of all. Fear makes you eat your broccoli."

What I wish I'd said was, "Look at Darren, and Sandy, and Nancy, and Jori.  Read the posts.  I'll show you the 'Thank You' cards.  I'll show you the "Wish I'd Done It" emails from spectators. Now try to find out who won last year. Which do you think is more important: first place, or personal best?"

What I wish I'd said was, "Yes, yes, yes you can. Eventually, everyone finishes.  Imagine the worst-case scenario.  Can you live with that?I can.  And if you can, too, then you're crazy not to do the Games."

What I wish I'd said was, "If I have any voice left by 9am, I promise to cheer you loudest of all.  Because every person there is my friend, my ally, and my hero.  It's in my best interest for you to do well, and I get to choose the events.  I'm your ref, and I'm in your pocket. The deck is already stacked in your favour."

What I wish I'd said was, "Don't worry, they're all going to clap anyway."

Even if you play an "Indian War Song" when your audience is expecting "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star."  Maybe more so.

RESULTS - Catalyst Games 2009

MENS RX’D

NAME	#1	#2	#3	#4	TOTAL TIME
Vilaca, Adrian	4m 25s 0ms	8m 14s 0ms	6m 48s 0ms	11:07	30:24
Gowlett, Ray	3m 45s 0ms	8m 0s 0ms	7m 49s 0ms	11:28	31:02
Paquin, Jeremy	6m 32s 0ms	8m 1s 0ms	13m 22s 0ms	15:56	43:51
Snider, Clint	4m 8s 0ms	9m 44s 0ms	15m 50s 0ms	15:29	45:11
Rose, Brent	6m 6s 0ms	8m 33s 0ms	20m 0s 0ms	12:55	47:34
Fisher, Glen	5m 28s 0ms	10m 12s 0ms	17m 40s 0ms	16:43	50:03
Jones, Simon	6m 28s 0ms	9m 36s 0ms	20m 0s 0ms	17:36	53:40
Strickler, Phil	15m 10s 0ms	9m 29s 0ms	16m 21s 0ms	14:18	55:18
Thomson, Jori	15m 1s 0ms	9m 51s 0ms	20m 0s 0ms	DNF	DNF

 

MENS S1

NAME	#1	#2	#3	#4	TOTAL TIME
Bunting, Sandy	8m 6s 0ms	11m 39s 0ms	12m 42s 0ms	14:51	47:18
Linquist, Darren	6m 31s 0ms	11m 20s 0ms	17m 33s 0ms	14:37	50:01
Cyr, Shawn	11m 0s 0ms	10m 25s 0ms	14m 32s 0ms	14:43	50:40
Leblanc, Richard	8m 33s 0ms	13m 0s 0ms	16m 48s 0ms	16:14	54:35
Deguire, Luc	6m 33s 0ms	14m 14s 0ms	15m 44s 0ms	19:43	55:14
Biseglia, AJ	4m 16s 0ms	14m 38s 0ms	DNF	DNF	DNF

 

WOMENS RX’D

NAME	#1	#2	#3	#4	TOTAL TIME
Gignac, Nicole	7m 22s 0ms	10m 11s 0ms	11m 12s 0ms	10:55	39:40
Bailey, Jo-Ann	10m 54s 0ms	11m 44s 0ms	20m 0s 0ms	12:17	54:55
Leblanc, Nancy	13m 49s 0ms	16m 2s 0ms	18m 45s 0ms	DNF	DNF
Mayhew, Miranda	10m 36s 0ms	12m 10s 0ms	DNF	DNF	DNF

 

 

WOMENS S1

NAME	#1	#2	#3	#4	TOTAL TIME
Konsmo, Sarah	4m 38s 0ms	11m 9s 0ms	13m 21s 0ms	10:51	40:59
Snider, Mendy	4m 57s 0ms	13m 48s 0ms	11m 40s 0ms	13:58	44:23
Waboose, Donna	4m 38s 0ms	13m 31s 0ms	14m 13s 0ms	14:10	46:32
McGuire, Kathleen	5m 59s 0ms	13m 43s 0ms	13m 22s 0ms	14:26	47:30
Oikari, Melissa	4m 6s 0ms	14m 31s 0ms	14m 54s 0ms	14:06	47:37
Givens, Leanne	5m 43s 0ms	14m 42s 0ms	16m 15s 0ms	14:00	50:40
Cappelli, Anna	5m 51s 0ms	15m 52s 0ms	14m 31s 0ms	14:44	50:58
Hoffman, Kristen	5m 27s 0ms	14m 52s 0ms	20m 0s 0ms	12:46	53:04
Linquist, MaryAnn	3m 57s 0ms	17m 31s 0ms	19m 24s 0ms	16:43	57:15
Oikari, Hayley	7m 15s 0ms	11m 46s 0ms	DNF	DNF	DNF

 

WOMENS S2

NAME	#1	#2	#3	#4	TOTAL TIME
Rollin, Monique	3m 36s 0ms	7m 30s 0ms	8m 52s 0ms	???	19m 58s 0ms
Schmidt, Allyson	4m 12s 0ms	7m 25s 0ms	11m 7s 0ms	???	22m 44s 0ms
Jenson, Pauline	4m 7s 0ms	7m 30s 0ms	14m 23s 0ms	???	26m 0s 0ms
Gartshore, Esther	6m 42s 0ms	10m 17s 0ms	8m 39s 0ms	???	8m 39s 0ms
Reid, Jennifer	5m 58s 0ms	14m 8s 0ms	17m 58s 0ms	???	17m 58s 0ms

Push

My friend, Dr. Mike Mackay, calls it, "Feeding The Baby."

When I'm watching an athlete do box jumps, my knees involuntarily flex and pop! - just like I'm jumping with them. You do it, too: teaching your teenager to drive, you pump the "air brake" from the passenger seat as you approach a stop sign. When you're spoon-feeding a baby, you open your mouth with them.

One of my greatest downfalls as a coach: I'm a huge fan. I want everyone to succeed, every single time. I appreciate the value of failure. Absolutely, I do. But if I can steer you around it, I will.

We do big events like Catalyst Games 2009 to push you. And it works: 3 people have achieved their first muscle-ups ever in the last 2 days. Women are getting their first pullups, everyone's linking double-unders, and some are hammering the BCTs like never before. We're getting emails about competitive standards for knees-to-elbows. You're submitting pictures of your pushups. You're changing your facebook status every 2 hours. You're watching dozens of videos to learn how to get better.

It's tough, as a coach, to referee. It's tough to hold the line on standards. Flipping that yellow card over, making you do an extra rep, isn't easy. But it's fair.

Letting you get away with a pullup that isn't high enough isn't about punishing you. It's not about being in "a bad mood," or disliking you. It's about devaluing the accomplishment. Last weekend, knowing that Nancy's status in the Rx class depended on her getting 3 pullups (she'd only done one, ever, before that,) it was very tempting to drop the standard. To pat her on the back and say, "that's okay. You tried your best. Good for you." Instead, I gritted my teeth and held the line. Nancy responded. She did 3 pullups. She's ready.

At 11am yesterday, Jeremy couldn't say he'd ever done a muscle-up. He ran into the gym between clients and hammered until he got one. Then he got another. And another, and another. Now we're working on Brent.

These events are hard. Until you've done one, you can't really appreciate how ridiculous these demands can be. And yet.... we do them. We finish. We push hardest in the final 30 seconds. We empty the tank. We leave nothing in reserve. And then we do it again. And again.

I know it's frustrating to do extra reps. I've been there. But if I give you a freebie, what am I giving to everyone else? More importantly, what am I really pushing you to achieve? If we were like every other gym - hell, like most parts of our wimpy "trying-your-best-is-good-enough" culture - you wouldn't be doing pullups today. And I'd still have a voice left by Friday.

Thanks for being cheer-worthy. Now get out there and push.

Last Day For A Shirt!

You can still sign up after September 1, but you won't get the #1 Souvenir In The World (according to Catalyst Fitness Magazine)!  

$25 to enter.  We'll order a few extra shirts for the day of the Games, but no guarantees.....

PS - there is no Catalyst Fitness Magazine.  Not yet, anyway.

Catalyst Games Registration Update

We're over 30 competitors deep now, with a terrific array of skill, talent, experience, and heart. 

Last year, the #1 comment by spectators was, "I should have done it.  I could have finished."  The same is true this year: though every WOD will be tough, anyone can finish them.  And survival is goal #1, with fitness and with life.

Can't do a double-under?  Enter the Scaled #2 class.  Too young?  Do the kids' event.  Don't run?  Walk. 

This is an experience you'll never forget.  You'll talk about it for weeks afterward.  You'll relive every triumph, every tragedy.  You'll love it.  

If you want a t-shirt souvenir, make sure you're entered (and your $25 entry fee is paid up!) before September 1!  We'll have a few shirts around on race day, but we make no guarantees!  Get in early for a guaranteed momento!