So....you've seen the events. NOW you're scared.
You're worried that you can't do your pushups as required. Your pullups are few and far between. Your double-unders are really one-point-seven-five-unders....
..and it's fine.
We love the competitive aspect. We love that you're nervous, because fear makes you eat your broccoli. We see more PRs - more first-time achievements - in August than ANY OTHER MONTH, because you're scared NOT to succeed. It's a beautiful thing. While other gyms are ghost towns, the Park has been jammed all week, full of people who are struggling to get that first muscle-up, or add that extra 5lbs to their clean.
The majority, though, are not headed to the podium. For many, simply FINISHING the Games as Rx - or at all - will be this year's win. Heck, it may be the biggest win they've ever had in their life. Finishing these Games, which are definitely the toughest we've ever staged, as Rx is a huge deal. Some would prefer to do as many events as possible with the prescribed weight and movements, and simply 'scale' the ones they can't do. That's fine; you're just ineligible to win the overall title. OK?
Here's how we'll do it:
The cutoff time for Event #1 is 45 minutes. Can't finish it in 45 minutes? No problem. Finish it. You may have to jump right into event #2...or you may miss it entirely. No problem. Start again at event #3.
No, you won't get a medal. For that reason, we'll keep tracking your times and weights, but stop counting your points (Scoring post to follow.) It won't matter - you'll still make your goal. We just want others to make THEIR goal, and be as accurate as possible in the scoring.
Example: Bill finishes second in event #1. Good for him. In event #2, he finishes 38th. Also fine. In event #3, he finishes first. Yay! But in event #4, he can't do pullups...and chooses to scale the event. That's no problem. In this case, we track his time, just as before. However, we remove his points on events #1, #2, and #3. They're gone. They're not passed down to the next person, and no one moves up into their spot.
Historically, many events would have done this differently: they'd have pushed Jimmy up into second place, shuffled people around all day, and finally come up with a podium that's there by attrition, not athleticism. It is theoretically possible that a terrific athlete could be passed over as Most Fit just because he can't keep his hips off the ground during a pushup.
We want the fittest in Sault Ste. Marie. If you're a great runner, better than me (okay, a mediocre runner, better than me) and you beat me in event #1, you've earned it. I shouldn't earn more credit on the run JUST because I'm a better deadlifter than you are. Does this make it harder to become the Sault's Fittest Man and Woman? ABSOLUTELY. You'll have to win on your own merit. We want the best all-around, not the "best-except-for..." or the "best with strength-bias...."
This also saves our brave, committed, volunteer scorekeepers from doing a massive scoring reshuffle after EVERY event. I like my scorekeepers the same way I like my airplane pilots and surgeons: relaxed, smiling, happy and alert.
Issues? Likely. Feel free to discuss with me, and among yourselves, until tomorrow at 5pm. After that, it's assumed that you accept our challenge, our limitations, and our rules along with our t-shirt.