2021: A pandemic is causing havoc throughout the world, WA has changed to a single-party state government and The Open format is now a condensed 3 week system!
I think the great philosopher, Owen Wilson could sum up the start of the weekend with one word. "Wow".
Things really began to heat up when the Faction Captain videos came out. While it was obvious the large majority were prepared to lay their life on the line for Green, it was nice to give the coaches something to focus on and aspire to, in their otherwise mundane lives.
Most of the team captains rose to the occasion and gave it a red hot (or blue, or gold, or purple) crack. The amateur productions were cute at best but failed to measure up to the academy award-winning worthy performance of the leader in green and persuade any members to forgo their alliance to the superior faction. At the end of the day, we needed to divide the group to create factions in the name of a friendly in-house comp- and so, a draft was held.
After the dust settled, the teams were: GOLD: KAT
SAATCHI
SIENNA
KATE G
KATE B
CHRIS B
MATT BL
PETE D
DUNCAN
CAM
QUENTIN
With Kat looking to put 3 years of last-place finishes behind her, a strong-looking squad emerged. Time has shown us that partners in the same team often result in disaster.. Will team gold emerge with a few more singles than when they began? Only time will tell...
BLUE KIM
TOBEY
CARINA
ELLE
WACEY
COOPER
STEVE
MIKE B
HARRY
MATT BI
MATT BE
ARJAN
With a proud history of faction success, Wacey once again made some big moves. Keeping the names short was a focus, keeping nearly all team members to 5 letters or less.
RED
HANNAH
CLAIRE D
MYRA
GEORGIA
CHING
NATE
CHRIS L
SHAUN B
DANNY M
MIKE W
CONOR M
HARIOM
This is Hannah's first year as a faction captain, which is obvious when things like dancing ability become a factor in selection. Could it be the first time lucky for Hannah and the Reds who shake a leg? Most people seem to think no..
PURPLE
LIZ
REN
AMY
SARAH J
STEPH
MARSHALL
GUY
CHRISTIAN
MITCH
IAN
LIAM D
LIAM P
Coach Liz is also taking her maiden voyage. Purple on a nautical map meaning 'shallow seas', let's hope the Purple Faction has the depth that is critical to team success.
GREEN MILLA
JEN
EMILY
MARYANNE
JASON
CONOR BL
RYAN
SEAN Y
PAUL M
NICK B
ERVIN
JETRO
Much like another version of Gozilla (in cinemas now) as the teams were released, there was a real sense of Deja Vu. Green is looking very powerful across the board, with a lot of positive energy and a leader that oozes sex appeal.
Things Gary heard: _ Wacey and Kimmy receiving new nicknames from within their group. "Wacky" Brown and Kim "Jumbo" Hall.
_ "How do I log my score": Saatchi messaging (not even her captain) Liz.
_ "Daddy, Yellow (Gold) is my favourite". During the WOD brief, Alfie thought he would interject to let me know where his alliances are. Poor bloke has a case of the sniffles after sleeping outside all week.
_ "The double champ does what the f*** he wants" - Mitch Bell singing mid-workout. Maybe a reference to the past 2 years...?
_ "I don't think there's any way I can get any more reps" - Sean Young a few days before getting more reps.
_ "*a lot of swear words" - Kim Hall after running outside post repeat on Monday night.
_ "I got a lot of no reps, AND I didn't lose it" Cooper "new leaf" Lindsay
_ "I hope Guy's tight purple shorts make it to 21.2" - A lot of women.
Notable Performances:
_ Red faction who spent most of Wednesday night practicing dancing, which never made an appearance.
_ Elle (after getting signed up by her husband) getting her first 2 wall walks and showing a lot of determination.
_ Ching, Sienna, Kate B, Cam, Steve, Harry, Arjan, Conor M, Hariom, Liam P, Ian, Steph, Ren, Emily, Maryanne, Conor B, and Nick for all completing their first official Open workout!
_ Ching getting her first double unders and going on getting 210 reps!
_ Conor Blycha cashing in on his old man having a sore calf, to beat him in his first Open workout. _ Last but not least, Mitch finishing the workout in an incredible 14.03, taking 31st place for Males in Oceania and 344th in the world! On a serious note, this author has seen 11 years' worth of Open workouts but I can't think of a more incredible performance than this. Some serious grit, determination, and preparation.
By the numbers:
? - The number of times Red Faction member Nate deliberately measured Green factions tape wrong. Luckily Jason knew he and Red would be up to no good, and caught him shortchanging Paul a few inches. Most likely this happened to all Green members so you can probably add another 10% to all your scores.
0 - The males who outscored their female partners in this workout. (Except Mitch. So, 1).
1 - (out of 3) The parents who outscored their children.
10 - The reps Kat beat her partner Chris by.
25 - The reps Jen beat her partner Guy by.
31 - Mitch's overall finish for all men in the Oceania region!
59 - Total sign-ups CFC had for the Open!
217 - The reps Kim beat her partner by.
5425 - The total meters of white tape used in week 1.
A note - please if you are doing Friday Night Lights put your name on the form on the front desk or contact Jason.
Week 1 Standings:
With some seriously big scores coming out this week out of each faction, everyone felt confident they had done enough to get the win. (They hadn't). When the dust settled: 5th: Red 2849 reps
4th: Purple 2868 reps
3rd: Gold 2977 reps
2nd: Blue 3087 reps
1st: Green 3287 reps
With only 19 reps separating 4th and 5th and 128 reps separating 5th and 3rd it shows what a tight race we have on our hands. With Red faction captain Hannah refusing to redo, even after hearing her team's pleas, many of her team members wouldn't be amiss for questioning her dedication to the cause. The Green faction captain, on the other hand, went against medical advice to do the workout (which proved to be the difference between 1st and 4th). I suppose some captains just care about their team..?
There are less than 24 hours until the next announcement. Week 2 looks like a critical week. There is a potential of 2 scored workouts, so hopefully, Kat can cut back on her alcohol consumption to give Gold a real chance.
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