Samantha Briggs has been confirmed for the CrossFit Filthy 150. She joins a growing list of big-name athletes, including 2019 second-fittest woman on earth Kristin Holte and the return of long-time fan favorite Dan Bailey. They also confirmed this week that James Newbury, who had a banner year in 2019, has been confirmed for the event.
I did a feature on the CrossFit Filthy 150 a week ago on the podcast, so check my show notes at bengarves-staging.mystagingwebsite.com for a link to that. Filthy 150 is the first Sanctional event of the season. It’s hosted in the gorgeous Irish countryside outside Dublin, and follows the 2020 CrossFit Open on November 22nd.
Sam Biggs has the nickname “The Engine from England” for being able to just go, go, go, go. Also, for being from the United Kingdom. She’s the 2013 CrossFit Games champion, and has the distinct title of being the only athlete in the 2019 Season to qualify through all conventional means. Briggs won the Dubai CrossFIt Championship and the Australian CrossFit Championship sanctionals, placed top-20 in the CrossFit Open, was the national champion of the United Kingdom, and put some icing on the cake by helping a team qualify later in the season. The only thing Sam Briggs didn’t do in 2019 was get a wildcard, but she clearly didn’t need to.
We’ve all heard hundreds of stories about people losing 50 pounds doing CrossFit. I hear a story about someone who’s lost 100 pounds almost weekly. I’ve seen a smattering of people who’ve lost 150 pounds, and I’m so happy for everyone. But. WPTV in Palm Beach, Florida did a story on 27 year-old Alex Porro for losing an impossible-sounding 270 pounds. To put that in perspective, I’m 250 pounds, so he has lost more than one entire Ben Garves.
And he’s kept the weight off for more than a year. Porro is a usual at CrossFit Focus in Boynton Beach. I think we all need to take a moment and appreciate Alex’s work. It’s something incredible and inspiring, but most of all, something that has changed his life for ever.
Over the weekend was the 2019 CrossFit Dakota Games, one of CrossFit’s first licensed events. Hundreds of athletes gathered in Fargo, North Dakota to compete in over 20 different athlete categories, ranging from teenagers to professionals, team competitions to masters athletes. The pro winners were Karla Wolford and Brian Harris.
Wolford has quite the resume, as the owner of EHP CrossFit in Moorehead, Minnesota, a USA Weightlifting coach, four-time CrossFit Regionals competitor, fittest female doctor in 2017, and a sports chiropractor for Team USA. She won both the CrossFit Dakota Games online qualifier and the event itself. Wolford has competed in the Granite Games multiple times, placing as high as eighth in 2017.
Brian Harris is a US Army Captain and UH60 Black Hawk helicopter pilot, and serves alongside Captain Chander Smith on the US Army Warrior Fitness Team. He has four event wins under his belt, including the 2019 Koda Open, two online qualifiers, and now the 2019 CrossFit Dakota Games.
And that’s it for news about CrossFit on Monday, September 23rd. Thanks for listening. Be sure to rate, review, and subscribe. It’s the best way to give back to the show, because it helps more people find us. I’m Ben Garves.
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