Three Weeks. Three Workouts. One Community: The CrossFit Open ’26

by | Mar 20, 2026 | Community, CrossFit

The CrossFit Open 2026 is done!

And although the tag line for this year’s efforts read SEE YOU ON THE LEADERBOARD, we proved at CrossFit DireWolf that it was about way more than that:

Energy.
Support.
And a willingness to show up.

It’s been three weeks of proving to ourselves that we can push through doubt and do hard things. It’s been three weeks of actually enjoying doing it because we’re doing so alongside people who want to share the experience, who also want to chase one more rep, and who also want to find something the other side of that effort.

THE CROSSFIT OPEN 2026 AT CROSSFIT DIREWOLF

This year marks our second of the Intramural Open at our place. Getting everyone into teams, each with one of our coaches as captain, helped bring the competition into the gym for our first-timers, and gave our seasoned athletes a whole other level of motivation. Points came from workout performance with seeded head-to-heads and one-and-done attempts, but they also came from taking part in weekly challenges, representing their team with colours and mascots, and supporting their fellow competitors.

26.1

We officially kicked-off our Open with a Thursday Throwdown. Immediately after the live announcement, Captains Mark, Sam, Mahlon, and Vick were joined by Rick of Bearman’s Grizzlies, and Emma of Sam’s Sled Dogs to navigate the wall ball and box combo while the rest of the gym watched and cheered!
— FOR TIME (12:00 cap) —
20x wall ball shots
18x box jump overs
30x wall ball shots
18x box jump overs
40x wall ball shots
18x medicine ball box step overs
66x wall ball shots
18x medicine-ball box step overs
40x wall ball shots
18x box jump overs
30x wall ball shots
18x box jump overs
20x wall ball shots
With the standard set, from 6am to 9pm on Friday, with a few Open Gym slots on Saturday and Sunday, all our members who’d signed up had their go. They took turns performing and judging, sharing tips for survival, and having a go at the first of our teams’ weekly challenges: The Erg Shoot

Successful target hits with both the wall balls and the lasers saw Bearman’s Grizzlies on top in Week One, closely followed by Mark’s Shark’s and King’s Cobras.

26.2

Following the CrossFit HQ Announcement, Captains Sam, Mark, and Mahlon were once again joined by Rick of Bearman’s Grizzlies, plus Ed of Rob’s Rhinos, and Captain Barber for a full-house on the rig in the live demo. An absolutely electric atmosphere while the coaches raced Rick to the rings, with the crowd going WILD for Ed’s multiple successful ring muscle ups!
— FOR TIME (15:00 cap) —
80 ft dumbbell overhead walking lunge
20x alt. dumbbell snatches
20x pull ups
80 ft dumbbell overhead walking lunge
20x alt. dumbbell snatches
20x chest-to-bar pull ups
80 ft dumbbell overhead walking lunge
20x alt. dumbbell snatches
20x ring muscle ups
Talk about “the magic of The Open”; we saw first pull ups, first chest-to-bar pull ups, and first ring muscle ups, not to mention that dumbbell weight being no joke on the lunges. Friday Night Lights was crazy, but so was the week’s team challenge: The Whitney Box Jump

Turns out that jumping on a box exactly before the diva cries out And I Will Always Love You was harder than it looked. However many players enjoyed success, so much so that the Intramural Leaderboard flipped, seeing Mark’s Sharks take the lead, King’s Cobras moving into second, and Bearman’s Grizzlies sitting wounded in third.

26.3

After an all-male cast for 26.2, it was the girls’ turn for 26.3. After one of the most confusing announcements we’ve seen for a long time, Captain Libby grabbed a barbell alongside Abbie for Rob’s Rhinos, Lily for Vick’s Vipers, Stacey for Mark’s Sharks, and Shannon for King’s Cobras.
— FOR TIME (16:00 cap) —
– 2 rounds –
12x burpees over the bar
12x cleans (weight 1)
12x burpees over the bar
12x thrusters (weight 1)
– 2 rounds of –
12x burpees over the bar
12x cleans (weight 2)
12x burpees over the bar
12x thrusters (weight 2)
– 2 rounds of –
12x burpees over the bar
12x cleans (weight 3)
12x burpees over the bar
12x thrusters (weight 3)

We thought the crowd was out of control for week two… the support was outstanding and the volume deafening, especially as the girls approached their time cap, for our final Thursday Throwdown. Showing everyone else just how much effort it took to squeeze out as many reps as possible, CrossFit DireWolf knew this last workout was going to hurt. It made for some fantastic photos for the third and final team’s challenge: Smile For The Camera

THE CROSSFIT DIREWOLF WRAP PARTY

We celebrated the end of three tough weeks with our wrap party. Another excuse to workout together, we also delivered the results of our Intramural Open, highlighted the MVPs for each week, and made sure the top point-scorers got their recognition.

The results…
Coach Mark, dressed as a shark (obviously), announced Bearman’s Grizzlies as the winners overall, with Adam Cheeseworth and Sophie Tumber receiving prizes for bagging the highest number of points for their teams over all. Lily Tricker won the most points for her team performing her tasks and challenges each week, Coach Mahlon won the most head-to-head points in total, and Shannon Hooi‘s muscle ups were certainly worth a prize.

1st – Bearman’s Grizzlies
2nd – King’s Cobras
3rd – Mark’s Sharks
4th – Rob’s Rhinos
5th – Sam’s Sled Dogs
6th – Vick’s Vipers
7th – Barber’s Baboons

To everyone, not just at CrossFt DireWolf, who signed up, counted reps, judged, cheered, or just gave it a go; Congratulations. You made this year’s Open special.