2017 In Review

Wow, what a year. 2017 has come and absolutely flown by – can anyone else remember New Year’s like it was just yesterday? From the annual goals we set to such a memorable Open and Regionals, to the Games coming to Madison, and so much more. I couldn’t be more excited to go back through our best year yet. Actually I lied, I am more excited to look ahead to 2018, but I’ll hold tight for now.

THE PREFACE

In 2016 we decided it would be cool to get our athletes together for a photo shoot and team throwdown. We had so much fun that we decided we’d have to do it again in 2017. It was just as much fun this year, but something else was going on. These guys brought it. Like, a level we’ve never seen before. After doing 3 full-fledged workouts in about 90 minutes, and after seeing what we saw, we knew 2017 was going to be big for our athletes. We just had no idea how big.  

THE OPEN

Does anyone remember how anticlimactic week one was? Leaderboarding all day Monday, just to be told athletes would have another day? And then the same thing Tuesday? Well, when it was all said and done we woke up to something pretty cool – our guy Streat took home 1^st in the North Central and 10^th in the World. What a great Week 1 surprise to wake up to, and what a foreshadowing it would prove to be. When the Open was all wrapped up, Dylan had finished with a top 5 position in the region, Streat and Jessica both had finished top 15, and Andrew had finished 10^th in the team division with his affiliate CrossFit Alpha Dog. All had secured a return trip to the Central Regionals, this time in Nashville Tennessee. We were stoked.

REGIONALS

Does anything scream we’re about to party like going to Nashville for Regionals? Seriously one of the coolest spots by far. The food was amazing and what’s better than partying with a bunch of crazy fitness fanatics? Regionals flew by in no time at all but luckily there was a ton to remember. We met and partied with the Fitaid crew for a couple nights (thank god for Partyaid), we ate like southern kings (I’ve been dreaming about Arnold’s for months now), and we cheered our hearts out (but none more than the Hoerner's). When it was all over, we packed the truck and headed back home to Wisconsin.

THE GAMES

Man was that picture one of our favorites ever. Being born and raised in Wisconsin, we are absolute homers. Add in the fact that I went to UW-Madison for college and you can see why we were so stoked to host the CrossFit Games this year. Most people didn’t realize that Madison was consistently rated the fittest city on Earth, but we did, and so we also knew that it would make the perfect home for the games. If you guys recall, I wrote this pretty cool article on the top fitness related activities to do while in Madison for the Games. Check it out here!

Wow, was Madison was another whirlwind. We set up as a Games Vendor for the first time, and debuted our new and improved booth, which we eventually dubbed “the wall.” Major props to Aaron Hinde over at Fitaid for the idea and inspiration to make the change, it was awesome and definitely made us stand out from the crowd of tents. My only complaint with the Games was that we were working too hard to properly enjoy it (that’s a joke of course).

Unfortunately we didn’t get to see much of Streat’s inspiring and defying performance – from getting struck with a surprise sickness to becoming the 14^th Fittest on Earth, but we weren’t totally in the dark either. It seemed like every few minutes someone from Boxstar Nation would walk up and fill us in. How awesome is it that we have such a passionate fan base? I know for a fact that a lot of people who came up to us didn’t even know Streat, but were cheering for him like they were buddies. That’s pretty badass if you ask me.

Luckily we did get to enjoy some of the festivities of The Games. Our friends at Fitaid shot off some Boxstar swag to the fans and they invited us over for a night of celebration where we had the pleasure of meeting the Barbell Shrugged crew – we’ve long looked up to these guys and it was a blast to finally get to meet them and chat with them. PS, Mike was looking pretty good in his new sweatshirt.

GRANITE GAMES

The year wrapped up with our standard trip to the Granite Games. After our success at the CrossFIt Games we knew we wanted to kick it up a notch, so we decided to expand “the wall” and man was it awesome. We literally had a 10 person line waiting for our arrival on the first morning, an unexpected surprise. Again, it seemed like we were too busy to think until the after party on Sunday night.

LOOKING AHEAD

And like that the year is all but wrapped up. Our company has grown so much in 2017, and we are so thankful and so grateful to every single person who has supported us and our mission. We live in a constant pursuit of being greater than yesterday, and it’s so amazing to see you guys join us on this journey.

In 2018, expect more of the same, just better. We aren’t changing much; you’ll still see us at local and major competitions throughout the year, so stop by and say hi. We’ll definitely continue our Ambassador program because it was such a hit, so stay on the lookout. One new thing we will be introducing in the New Year is our Preferred Affiliate and Affiliate Wholesale Program, details on that coming soon. Other than that, our main goal for 2018 is to just keep getting better. Just like all of you.

Thank you again so much for being part of this amazing community, and we can’t wait to crush 2018 with you.

Jason & Jason