The 2014 OC Throwdown Recap
A summary of the 2014 OC Throwdown, including thought on Kevin Ogar's injury, from the perspective of the planners.
I am very rarely left speechless. I very rarely have a hard time finding a way to offer my opinion on a subject. Today, a full two days after The 2014 OCT, I find myself numb. We had an accident. Not a little one. We had an accident that was impossible to see coming.
In the middle of event 5, Kevin Ogar, dropped a snatch on his back and severed his spinal cord. I did not know him personally. In fact, I know very little about Kevin. What I do know is that people that compete and dedicate their lives to sport are a different breed. It is impossible to be on that floor with those athletes without dedicating every ounce of your soul to a sport that you love.
The athletes that make up an elite fitness competition possess the highest levels of dedication, passion, and an endless desire to push one’s self to the edge of what is possible. Before this unfortunate accident, Kevin found Bryan and told him how excited he was for the event. Kevin told Bryan he was going to snatch 270# for a triple. The accident happened with 235# on the bar, about 85% of his max.
There are no words to describe how something like this happens. I am very far from religious. In situations like this, I pray that I am wrong in my belief system and hope there is some sort of higher power that can do something. Helpless is a temporary emotion. The numbness of how precious life is, and how quickly things can change is going to take a while to heal.
Even with this accident, I walk away from the weekend with my head held high. I am first and foremost proud of Jenn Ryan. She makes me so damn happy and watching her compete with some of the best in the world was an honor. I am proud of the other five athletes that we coach that competed this weekend. I am proud of the OCT staff. Alia, Bernie, Ryan, Kim, Amy, Karen and the rest of the staff who worked the entire weekend on about 7 hours of sleep and every single one of them did it for the love of the competition.
We put in hundreds, if not thousands, of hours to organize and plan the event. I am proud of Darren McGuire, the executive director of the competition, for his vision and endless persistence in making sure every detail was covered. I am extremely proud of my best friend and partner, Bryan Boorstein, for programming the best competition I have ever seen. The triple Fran on Saturday night was mentally and physically the hardest workout I have ever seen programmed.
I am proud of the head judge, John Mustafa. Moose was first on the scene at the accident and controlled the floor to perfection. He is the best judge this sport has and is on the competition floor every day, for every rep, of every workout. When things go bad, all eyes turn to him, and he handles himself and others to perfection.
Above everything, I am proud to be a part of CrossFit. There are a lot of fitness programs and gyms and whatever. I do not care about them. I love CrossFit. There is something pure about the people that do this stuff. At the time of writing this, the CrossFit community has raised over $108,000 to support the costs of his recovery.
CrossFit is not an exercise program. CrossFit is not a gym. It is a group of people that passionately care about their lives. It is a group of people that passionately care about the person next to them. When they see one of their own go down, they respond. As I write this, I have tears in my eyes knowing how lucky I am to be a part of the CrossFit community.
It tears me up thinking how something like Kevin’s accident can happen. This single incident has left me numb, but the world works in mysterious ways. It has a way of letting you know you aren’t the only one, and CrossFit brings us together. It lets us connect to others. The world lets you know, it is ok to be numb, and that there are others out there that share these feelings…we have each other’s back.
It has been a couple sad days, but I am proud of what we do as a community and I have CrossFit to thank.
