How to Host a CrossFit Competition

CrossFit, like many fitness modalities, is a type of exercise and a sport. One of the best ways to bring these two parts together is for your CrossFit gym to host a competition. These events allow members to test their skills, create a networking opportunity for nearby gyms, and boost name recognition for your gym. CrossFit competitions can be scaled to any size, so you won’t be taking on too much to handle. 

Many competitions choose to support a charity during their event. You could raise money through donations and registration or collect items or a cause. By partnering with a charity, especially one local to the gym, you can help drive attendance and participation. Most of all, you have the opportunity to turn friendly competition into a good cause. 

How to Host a CrossFit Competition 

In addition to the basic needs when planning an event, you’ll have to take the programming and equipment into account. You can host a small in-house competition for your members or take on a multi-day event at a venue. Your gym has endless options to create a great event that works for your members and business.

Create Your Competition Concept

Before you nail down details, it is best to come up with a general idea of what you want your CrossFit competition to look like. Have an idea of the number of workouts, amount of athletes competing, what divisions your competition will have, and what workouts you want to have. 

For a small competition, you can host a one-day event at your gym with your members. Larger CrossFit competitions are usually hosted at a venue and take place over multiple days. If there is a lot of interest from competitors, you may need to include a qualifier to compete before the event. 

Plan Ahead

Large CrossFit events (think Wodapalooza and the Rogue Invitational) begin planning 12-18 months in advance. A small, in-house competition can be planned in as little as 3-4 months. It takes time to secure an event space (if needed), vendors, sponsors, equipment, etc. The size of your event will determine how far in advance you need to begin planning.

If you are planning to host your event at a venue or an outdoor space, keep in mind that you may need local permitting. Check with the event space and local government for any necessary permits or permissions to get. Since paperwork can take time to be approved, begin this process as soon as possible. 

Set Your Budget

With the scale of your event in mind, you’ll need to start pricing out your budget. The size of your event will determine the minimum budget necessary. 

Some costs to keep in mind include:

• Event venue
• Equipment (for workouts and general event)
• Insurance
• Medical 
• Event staff
• Vendors
• Prizes

Of course, there is the opportunity to make back the cost of the event. You can find sponsors to help fund the competition. Merchandise sales, vendor fees, and event tickets are all ways to make income during a CrossFit competition. Larger events can often turn a profit when hosting these competitions. 

On the other hand, smaller CrossFit competitions are less likely to make a profit. If you are hosting a competition for your members, you probably won’t be selling tickets or merchandise. Additionally, you probably won’t have vendors or sponsors for the competition. 

If you are raising money for charity, you should ensure that as much money from the competition is going to the cause as possible.

Find a Location

In-house competitions already have their location: your gym. You may need to bring in some extra equipment or move workouts outside to accommodate the number of competitors. Location rentals can be expensive, so hosting at your gym can save a lot of money. 

If you would like to host a larger event, look into community spaces that are usually cheaper to rent than private venues. You may have a large CrossFit box nearby that would be willing to partner with you for the competition and utilize their gym. Outdoor competitions are fun for fans and are cheaper to rent and set up. 

Program and Schedule the Workouts

Creating the workouts for your competition is the fun part! Competitors love to partake in challenging but unique workouts. CrossFit focuses on using varied movements at high intensity. Most competitions like to include assorted workouts that are different lengths and test different movements. Usually, you will see some gymnastics movements, at least one heavy weightlifting move, and some form of cardio. 

Unique workouts help make your competition stand out amongst others. For example, Wodapalooza always includes an ocean swim because the event is held in Miami. Competitions held at the CrossFit Ranch in Aromas typically include a trail run in the hills. Find a way to make your programming stand one, even if it is just one special event during the competition.

When it comes to setting the schedule, you need to consider more than just the length of the workouts. Competitors need time to recover in between workouts. If you have multiple divisions and heats, there needs to be time to reset the competition floor and wipe off equipment. You should also ensure that time caps are reasonable for the workout prescribed. 

Get Necessary Equipment

Even if you are just hosting a small intra-gym competition, you may need additional equipment to allow all competitors to do the workouts together. For this, you can reach out to nearby gyms and ask about borrowing or renting equipment. 

Medium and large competitions have a couple of options for ensuring they have enough equipment for their workouts. You can still reach out to nearby gyms and ask about borrowing or renting equipment. Some large cities may even have businesses that lease fitness equipment. 

You can also talk to fitness equipment companies about a discounted rate for purchasing equipment in bulk. The cost of buying new equipment can be exorbitant. One way to offset this is to sell the equipment after the competition. Since it is discounted, other gyms or individuals will be interested in buying the barely used pieces. 

Register Athletes

Small competitions can have a simple registration process. Typically, there is a reasonable fee associated with signing up. This helps cover the cost of the competition and any swag provided to the competitors.

The largest CrossFit competitions have a qualifying process because there are so many athletes interested in competing. These competitions use a set of workouts filmed and submitted by athletes to find the top athletes for each division. 

Even a small or moderate event may need to cap the number of athletes competing. Keep in the mind the size of the competition space, the number of judges and volunteers available, and the length of the competition. You want to make sure that every athlete gets a fair chance to compete and plenty of time to recover in between workouts. 

Find Judges and Support Staff

There is no point in having a competition if you don’t have judges available to proctor the workouts. CrossFit offers a Judges Course online. Anyone can get certified through this course. Typically, you will want CrossFit trainers or gym owners as judges, because they have the best knowledge base of movement standards. 

It can be helpful to appoint a Head Judge. This person will oversee the workouts and brief the judges on workout standards. They will also be the final vote if there is a discrepancy. 

In addition to the judges, you will most likely need additional support staff to run the event. Larger competitions have a team of volunteers that will move equipment and reset the floor in between heats and divisions. You may also need security, event guides, check-in desk personnel, and more.

Most competitions use volunteers for judging and event support. For judges, check with nearby CrossFit boxes if their coaches or members are interested in volunteering. For support staff, you can look anywhere for volunteers. High school students are usually looking for ways to accrue volunteer hours.

Be Original

Bring in an element specific to your town. Find a unique way to support a charity. You can come up with anything you want to help your competition stand out. Plus, people are more likely to compete in an event that they find fun and inviting. 

Tribal Clash events focus on “primal movements”. Wodapalooza leans into the colorful Miami energy by branding the entire event pink and blue. The Festivus Games celebrates the made-up holiday from Seinfeld. 

Advertise

You need both athletes and spectators to make a great CrossFit competition. For small-scale competitions, you are just going to be focusing on your members and their family and friends. Larger competitions will want to advertise to athletes from other gyms in town (and maybe even farther). 

If you are working with local businesses as sponsors or vendors, ask them to put up signage and share information about the event. Also, never underestimate the power of social media. Remind participants to share about the event.

Invite Vendors and Sponsors

Sponsors are businesses that pay a fee to have their brand advertised alongside the event. They can also participate in the event or have a booth, depending on the level they contribute. Inviting sponsors to contribute to the competition can help cut the costs that the gym is responsible for. It is great to work with companies or local businesses that your members and attendees love or would love. 

Vendors are companies that are able to set up a booth or table at the event. Vendors could be food stands (or a food truck), fitness apparel, local businesses, etc. You can charge a reasonable vendor fee to allow a business to set up at the event. If you are hosting the competition for charity, you may allow vendors to operate for free with a percentage of profits donated to the cause.

Final Thoughts

If you are putting together your first CrossFit competition, start small. Host a couple of intra-gym, one-day competitions for your members. From there, you can scale up to a local competition by working with and/or inviting nearby CrossFit gyms to participate. Once you have an idea of all the components that go into hosting a large-scale CrossFit competition, go for it! The sport of CrossFit is growing every year and athletes will be happy to have another friendly competition to compete at.