Please select your home edition
Edition
Rooster 2025

Anna Tunnicliffe wins first event of 2014 Reebok Cross Fit Games

by Anna Tunnicliffe on 25 Jul 2014
Anna Tunnicliffe - Day 1 2014 Reebok Crofit Games SW
Twice Rolex Sailor of the Year and Olympic Gold medalist, Anna Tunnicliffe (USA) alternates between sailing aboard Alinghi in the Extreme Sailing Series, and chasing a serious ranking in the world of CrossFit.

She skipped sailing aboard the Extreme 40 Alinghi in the Extreme Sailing Series in St Petersburg, Russia. But she will be back aboard as tactician for the next regatta in Wales

Born in England, Tunnicliffe moved to USA at the age of 12, and pursued a promising track career before giving that away in favour of sailing, where she won a Gold Medal in the Womens Singlehander in 2008 and won the Womens Match Racing event at the 2011 ISAF World Championships in Perth. She represented USA in that event at the 2012 Olympics but did not make the medal podium.

CrossFit is becoming increasingly popular amongst sailors as a way of physically preparing for the sport, as it is less monotonous than other physical training processes and better replicates the physical sailing activities on board a racing boat.



July 24th, 2014, Carson, CA


The first day of competition at The 2014 Reebok CrossFit Games started in the most amazing way, with an event win.

The second event didn't go quite as planned, but it was what it was, and now we move onto Friday's events and the rest of the competition.

We arrived in California on Saturday to adjust to the time change, the climate and just get settled in. On Sunday we headed to the beach for a run along the boardwalk just to get the legs moving and then did a small WOD back at the hotel. Monday was checkin day, so we hit up some lifts in the morning, then headed to the beach for a beach WOD, and then back to the check in to get all my gear and do interviews.

We did a beach WOD to get out of a gym, and to do a bit of practice running in the sand, and to put my feet in the water to prove to myself that it wasn't that cold. I remember last year when we came and I went paddling, I was shocked at how cold it was, but then I was coming from Miami. This year, it didn't seem too bad, but I was still a bit worried seeing as though we didn't know what we were doing in the announced 'The Beach' WOD. All we knew was that it would start on the beach.

Monday night we had an athletes' dinner at which Dave Castro would usually announce Wednesday's WOD's. He did, but just not all of the details. He explained that the second event on Wednesday, the one rep max overhead squat was to be taken from the rack rather than from the floor. He explained three other events that were going to take place on Saturday. Then after dinner, he showed us a teaser video as to what 'The Beach' could be, saying we needed to know the past events and draw off that to be prepared for what to expect. At the end of the video, he said '... and The Beach WOD, you will find out tomorrow night' and walked out, left the building. You want a way to shut up 80 athletes, that was the way to do it. We all just sat there in disbelief that he hadn't told us. It was quite funny.

On Tuesday, we just relaxed and got in a small workout not knowing what Wednesday morning was going to bring. Around 6pm, we had to go to a briefing and finally the event was announced to us. It was: a 250 yard Swim, 50 kettle bell thrusters, 30 burpees, 500 yard swim, 30 burpees, 50 kettle bell thrusters, 250 yard swim. I had mixed emotions. I was excited it was going to be a long event that included swimming, but I have a fear of the open water (I know it sounds silly, but when I'm sailing I'm generally on the boat, not in the water). What made it worse was that earlier that day we had been down on Manhattan Beach Pier and saw two small sharks swimming around.

I had a mini freakout that night, but Brad was able to calm me down and set my head on right. And Wednesday morning we woke up and I was ready to attack the water. Our race started at 10am, which meant we had to load busses at 7:15am. We got to the beach, and went to our warm up area and I just focused on anything and everything except the water. I made my game plan to get with the front group so that I would be focused more on the competition rather than the little fishies that were swimming around underneath me. I was also relieved to see the amount of support that was out on the water so I knew that that would scare away most wildlife.

Just before 10am we were lined up on the start line and waiting for Dave's count down to go. The horn went and we were off. We all sprinted to the water and dove into the surf which was now building quite a bit. I took to the right of the field, wanting to get away from everyone so I could swim freely, but also because there was a little less surf at that point there. Half way to the first bouy, I knew I was ahead and so I focused on trying to maintain a lead at that point. There were two girls right on my tail around the bouy and all the way back to the sand to do our thrusters and burpees. I finished the burpees at the same time as Kara Webb (AUS) and she led back into the water as I grabbed a sip of water from my water bottle.

As we headed back in, we hit a huge set of waves coming in. I decided that I was going to walk as far as I could and then dive through the waves vs swimming over them. I chose to do breaststroke initially to help the diving, and then noticed that I was gaining on Kara quite a bit so continued the plan. I managed to overtake and pull out a bit of a lead on this outward leg of the swim by switching between breaststroke and freestyle.

This 500 yard portion of the swim was around the Hermosa Beach Pier. It felt like forever getting out there swimming against the big waves coming in, but eventually I made it to the end of the pier. At this point in the race, I knew I could win it if I kept pushing, but then sometimes you have funny random thoughts that go through your brain too. There was a rescue boat next to me that had the TV camera in it and my thought was, 'well if I get eaten by a shark, at least it'll be on TV and everyone can be entertained by it'.

Anyway, I quickly decided that that was a silly thought although it made me giggle inside, and I tried to get back to the beach as fast I could. On the way back in, I switched between backstroke and freestyle so that I could see the big waves approaching. I made it back to the beach and was the first to the burpees. I was four burpees in when the next person out of the water joined me. I just kept trying to push so that I could get a slightly bigger lead for the last swim. At that point, I was starting to feel sick and could only really focus on myself so I just kept trying to push and make to the finish line as fast as possible. I headed out to the surf and thankfully this lap felt so short compared to the last one. I rounded the bouy and checked in on where the next girl was. I knew that I just had to make it to the shore and sprint to the finish to win the event.

It was such an amazing feeling crossing that line in first. I did well in a few events last year, but never finished top three, let alone win them, so I was so happy to start out this year's Games with an event win. It felt like winning my first sailing race again.

Shortly after the race was done, we were able to go home and relax. I came home, ate some food, did my recovery and took a nap. My arms were screaming at me because they were so tired, but the recovery and a nap sorted them out. At 4pm we headed to the Stub Hub center to get ready for the evening event.

I know I'm not a 'strong' person and I do the best i can in those events. We warmed up and went into the arena with a game plan on weights. I managed to hit my opening weight of 190lbs, and then my second weight at 198lbs, but failed on my third weight of 206lbs. I got the weight up and then got to the bottom of my squat, but failed to stand it up as my shoulder collapsed. I was disappointed, but its one of those events, where looking back at it, I had only just hit 210 about a week ago and 205 was a hit or miss weight for me, so I managed to sleep it off and am now looking forward to tomorrow's events.

I had two amazing people help me get through today. Firstly, Brad who is without a doubt my rock! He keeps me level headed and mentally stable through these events and is there to give me my hug and kiss at the end of the events. Secondly, is our great friend Emily Friedman. Although her time is limited as she is on the Demo Team this year, she still makes time to come visit me and send me motivational texts and is a huge support! Thank you guys!!



Today is a day off. We have orientation around noon where we walk around the stadiums and they show us how the flow of everything will work, and then they will maybe announce another event or at least go over tomorrow's announced events.

The first event tomorrow is called the 'Triple 3's.' It is row 3000m, 300 Double Unders, 3 mile run! I'm obviously very excited about this event as I love running! We are doing it at the same time as the men, so it will be a big field and will be good to have lots of people around to run against.

For the rest of the day, we are going to relax, get prepped for the rest of the weekend, do a small recovery row/bike and then watch movie to distract the brain for a few hours. Then it's Game Time!!

You can follow along live at this link at games.crossfit.com

Thanks everyone for their amazing support! And, I have to thank my sponsors Inov-8, Skins, NormaTec, SpiderTech, Theromega Sports, RxSmartGear and FitAid for your continued support! #committed.
Cheers,

Anna

Update: After the second event above, Anna did not score well, dropping back to 10th overall, however she placed second in the third event, after leading for all but the last few metres of the run, when she cramped up, and is now in third place overall. The updated results can be seen by clicking here

Day 2: The Triple



4D's: Dream;Desire;Dedication;Determination SM
3P's: Passion...Progression...Perfection SM






Allen Dynamic 40 FooterExcess CatamaransB&G Zeus SR AUS

Related Articles

PredictWind launches PredictRain
New app From PredictWind delivers hyper-accurate, short-term rain predictions PredictRain is a groundbreaking standalone app that combines advanced AI modelling with intuitive tools to provide timely and precise rain forecasts for all types of outdoor activities.
Posted today at 4:51 am
49er & 49erFX Junior Worlds champions crowned
One final race before the storm kicked in at Øresund The final day of the 2025 Junior World Championship delivered high drama and even higher waves. As wind and rain swept across the Øresund, Race Committees managed to run one final race before safety concerns forced an early end to the competition.
Posted today at 4:43 am
Admiral's Cup: Emotional, Rare, Unforgettable
The 2025 Admirals' Cup set the stage for a bold new era in offshore racing Once the pinnacle of international offshore sailing, the return of the Admiral's Cup was a resounding success, setting the stage for a bold new era in offshire racing.
Posted on 4 Aug
29er World Championship at Porto Day 2
The breeze never quite showed up but the action didn't stop Day two of the Porto World Championships began with hope—and strategy. With light winds in the forecast, the race committee scheduled an early start in anticipation of a short sea breeze window.
Posted on 4 Aug
RS Aero World & Youth Worlds overall
The fine Brittany weather and afternoon sea breezes have provided excellent racing The stage was set for a dramatic final day showdown in Quiberon Bay, France, to decide the titles for the 7th RS Aero Worlds and 4th Youth Worlds.
Posted on 4 Aug
RS Feva Worlds at Aix-les-Bains, France Overall
Crowning of our 2025 World Champions As our World Championships drew to a thrilling close on Friday afternoon, the atmosphere was electric with anticipation! Sailors and families were buzzing with excitement as they prepared for their journey home.
Posted on 4 Aug
Just another event?
Is Cowes Week still a pinnacle regatta? We've been blessed with incredible sailing so far this summer in the UK (for once) with great breeze much of the time, and some of the best events in the world gracing our shores. But, like with Storm Floris, there are clouds on the horizon...
Posted on 4 Aug
Cadet World Championship day 0
Just how long is a piece of string? So here we are, day one of the Cadet Worlds proper. The British Worlds Team have all arrived safely on site after their marathon journeys and tales of Cadets visiting the Arc de Triomphe and Eiffel Tower.
Posted on 4 Aug
Tenerife Windsurf Grand Slam Day 3
Pierre Mortefon draws first blood after the wind fills in late After a couple of days of waiting for the wind, Day 3 eventually provided the goods to end the wait for some official competition as the Slalom X got under way during the early evening in 15-18 knots of wind.
Posted on 4 Aug
Festival of Sails 2026 expands to 5 days of racing
Australia's largest celebration of sailing just got even bigger Australia's largest celebration of sailing just got even bigger, with the Festival of Sails expanding to five action-packed days of racing.
Posted on 4 Aug