This is my second day on the road and I’m recording from a truck stop in Amarillo, Texas. Feel free to insert all the “Amarillo By Morning” jokes you can handle. I’m leaving.
The biggest story of the day was broken by the one and only Justin LoFranco at Morning Chalk Up. I’m going to torture a name when I say this, so I’m begging forgiveness in advance.
A few weeks ago was the Spanish Throwdown, held in Madrid, Spain. In the Female RX division, Ireland-based athlete Cliona NíCheallacháin NicChárthaigh took second, overall.
Cliona – I’m so sorry for the pronunciation.
The finish would have garnished Cliona with a €300 prize purse, about $330 USD, but the event was running late and she needed to get to the airport to catch a flight back to Dublin. She alerted the head judge before leaving, including providing her contact details and receiving acknowledgement from the judge that everything would be taken care of.
According to the Spanish Throwdown rulebook, section 7a, if an athlete does not stand on the podium for the award ceremony, they forfeit their prize purse and any additional gear, having only the right to the trophy. Cliona landed in Ireland to find a picture of the prize on messenger, with the message, “No podium, no prize…”
This sparked an onslaught of messaging back and forth between the athlete and the event, but the event stuck to their rulebook. It’s a fascinating read, and I suggest you go to Morning Chalk Up to follow the situation, head-to-toe. They include screenshots of the messaging, a distasteful message from a volunteer at the event, links to the rulebook, and more. I’ll fast-forward to the end:
Second-fittest man on earth Noah Ohlsen joined Morning Chalk-Up in a GoFundMe page, raising money to cover Cliona’s prize purse. At the time of recording this, they had surpassed their goal and hit $600 from over 40 donors. On the list of donors is a user named “SpanishThrowDown Sucks” Not long after creating the page, FitAid also posted they would be covering the prize purse.
This is such an incredible example of why I’m proud to be a part of this community. The page is still up, if you’d like to join the community in support.
And that one single perfect short story is it for news about CrossFit on Tuesday, September 17th. Thanks for listening. Be sure to rate, review, subscribe. I’m Ben Garves, reporting live from a truck in Amarillo, Texas. Peek at WODDITY’s instagram page to see how ridiculous it looks, if you need a good laugh this morning.
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