We greatly appreciate your input about Festivus and use it to make future events better. We like to address your concerns so you know we are aware of them. So, here we go…
Over Qualified Athletes
One of the main complaints we hear after every Festivus is participation by “over qualified” athletes.
We understand your frustration but consider this:
1. There is little we can do about truly overqualified athletes. Every competition we manage has athletes in the scaled division who should be Rx competitors. Aside from forcing them to move to Rx at the next event there aren’t many options for us. We rely in large part on the integrity of registrants to keep the competition honest.
2. We turned away dozens of athletes this year due to over qualification and (almost) always suggest athletes move up to Intermediate if they aren’t sure about competing as a Novice.
2. High performing is not the same as over qualified. An athlete new to CrossFit who trains hard for Festivus and does really well isn’t a “sandbagger” or a “cheater”. We appreciate their hard work and dedication to the sport.
Judging
We know consistent standards and “hometown reps” are a problem. We are open to any suggestions about how to make judging better. It’s a serious challenge as even events with L1 judges and full-on judging qualification courses struggle with consistent enforcement.
Shirt Problems
We have a fix for this one. Shirts for April are optional and will be delivered directly to your mail address. We will also offer at least 2 designs and several colors.
WODs
Programming for any event is tough. How hard do we make the WODs? Should we sacrifice variety of movements for ease of judging? Do the Hosts have enough equipment and floor space? How long will it take to complete each heat?
The Double Unders in the April WODs are a perfect example. Do we allow a single under substitution? Our decision is “no”. Here’s why:
1. We need a score to help us separate athletes going into the Final WOD.
2. An event without a challenge is just a WOD. We want Festivus athletes to have something to really push them in training.
3. Part of planning an event is setting the stage for a memorable experience or a breakthrough moment. I got my first muscle-up at an event and it was amazing. I felt like I won the World Series despite finishing almost last. We know many Festivus athletes will get their first Double Under to the roar of the crowd on 18 April…which is awesome.