Archive for the 'RX Athletes' category

Rx Team Adds A Phenomenal Up and Coming Athlete Karissa Rempel

Jul 24 2012 Published by under Pics, RX Athletes

With the 2012 Games coming to a close the excitement continues to roll! We are very excited to announce the newest athlete to join the Rx Team, Karissa Rempel. There are athletes with a lot of potential, and then there is Karissa. She is in a class of her own. At 15 years old she is poised to absolutely tear up the competitive #CrossFit scene for years to come. At this year’s Canada West Regionals Karissa finished 13th; moving up from 31st in the Open. With incredible support from her parents Dave and Nicky Rempel, remarkable athletic ability and a determined attitude, Karissa is going to do some amazing things. Here is a little bit more about Karissa:

I was a competitive gymnast for 6 years and had been involved in gymnastics since I was 3. In January 2011 I pulled my hamstring and rather than healing, it continued to get worse each day. So in March I decided to take a month off and just let it heal.

While this was going on, my Dad had just started CrossFit and had decided to participate in the Open just for fun. None of us knew much about CrossFit at the time. My dad suggested that I join him and thought that it would be perfect since I could modify the workouts to accommodate my injury.

A month later my hamstring had healed and I was ready to go back to gymnastics. My gymnastics training required 20+ hours a week which wasn’t going to leave me with any time for CrossFit. After 2 weeks back at gymnastics I decided CrossFit was what I wanted to be doing. I talked to my parents about making the switch and they were very supportive… I started back at the CrossFit gym right away.

Gymnastics has given me a big advantage in CrossFit. It taught me a lot about discipline and many of the skills are quite similar. I have been doing CrossFit for 15 months now; First training about 4 hours a week and soon progressing to about 8 hours a week. In November 2011 I participated in a local throw-down at a box in our community and won 1st place! Next was the open where I finished 31st in Western Canada followed by the Regionals where I improved to 13th. Recently I started working with CJ Martin of @CFInvictus who has come along side my trainers at @VO2MaxGP, helping to develop programming specific to the goals I want to achieve. All of the trainers at my box, including Brett Shillington and Janine Walinski are amazing! They are great at encouraging and helping me with this new program. I really enjoy having a program tailor made for me and working with the trainers who started me off on my CrossFit journey.

I haven’t done any competing since the Canada West Regionals because of school and it was nice to take it easy after Regionals. I definitely plan on going to throw-downs around my area this summer and love going to new boxes and meeting new people. I plan on taking most of my schooling at home next year for grade 10 so that I can really concentrate on training. My school has been very accommodating, helping me to achieve success in both sports and education.

Welcome to the team Karissa! We’re excited to be a part of what we know will be an epic journey in CrossFit. With such a great team around you to support you we know you’re going to be a force to be reckoned with!

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Mandy gets first female teammate… SK powerhouse Taryn Romanowich!

Jun 28 2012 Published by under Apparel, Pics, RX Athletes

With the Rx WOD Girl Shorts now finally available to purchase ONLINE we are very excited to be adding to another phenomenal female athlete to our incredible team. This sponsorship has been particularly difficult to stay quiet about as we’ve been talking to her for a while but wanted to wait until the women’s shorts were available to make it official. Now that the shorts are done we couldn’t be more pleased to announce that our newest female athlete is Taryn Romanowich from FUNCTION in Yorkton Saskatchewan!

Taryn is a co-owner and Coach at CF FUNCTION and an incredible athlete. Just like Steve Howell, and other top level competitive CrossFit athletes, Taryn works closely with one of the most well respected coaches and trainers in #CrossFit, CJ Martin of CrossFit Invictus. Finishing 14th in this year’s Canada West Regionals, Taryn is an amazing athlete and is on a serious course to keep moving up the leader board. Here’s a little bit more about Taryn:

“Being a small town tomboy, I occupied myself with sports. Hockey, basketball, soccer, you name it – I played it. The only way to keep ourselves sane in this small town was to play sports. I fell in love with basketball in particular, and it became who I was. For as long as I can remember, basketball has always been the pillar of my identity.

Enter CrossFit.

It’s 5 AM. We’re in a globo gym. “Fran”. I don’t know what I’m doing – thrusters? pull-ups? I can’t do a pull-up! Eight minutes later, I have no idea what just happened, but whatever it is, I’m hooked.

My CrossFit career started in a globo gym, much like many others. We would haul the rowers from the cardio center upstairs, to downstairs in front of the squat rack. We’d elbow the guys doing cable rows out of the way so we could do pull-ups. We were the ones that got into trouble for making too much noise, dropping the barbell, and spreading chalk everywhere. Sprinting out the front doors, nearly knocking people off their feet, so we could get our 400m run in.

I entered my first local competition two years ago, and after placing fourth, I never looked back. I competed at the Canada West 2010 Regionals with the CrossFit Regina team, placing fourth. But after opening our Affiliate, and working with some of the best coaches in the industry, I took my first shot at individual this year and placed fourteenth in the Canada West Regional. With a fire underneath me, and all the focus and support in the world, I’m set for 2013.

Before I was able to realize it, CrossFit became my identity. This sport is everything to me: as cliché as it is, I eat, sleep, and breathe for CrossFit. My life revolves around this sport. My life *is* CrossFit.”

We pinch ourselves daily to have the opportunity to work with the incredible athletes that have come on board with our brand and been so incredibly loyal. They all have a love for the sport of CrossFit that pours through in everything that they do which is exactly what we want the Rx brand to be about… the sport and the athletes first. Taryn is certainly no exception. She is so positive and upbeat it’s impossible to be down around her! We’re excited to help support Taryn in her CrossFit journey. Please help us welcome her to the team. I keep coming back to Steve’s quote from earlier in the year but no one has said it better….

THIS TEAM IS A FORCE.

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Ryan Swobody rounds out 3 incredible athletes repping RX at the NW Regionals this weekend

May 23 2012 Published by under Apparel, Events, Pics, RX Athletes

If it seems like we’re always excited it’s because, 90% of the time, we are. The other 10% of the time that we’re not excited is because we’re REALLY JACKED UP! Coming up this weekend is one of the last Regional events of 2012 leading into the #CrossFit Games. The NorthWest Regionals are going to be incredible this year and it’s not too far from the rest of us so Priceline a cheap hotel and get on down there.

We believe we’ve got a phenomenal product when it comes to our shorts but we still have to pinch ourselves when really high level athletes get excited to wear our gear and rep our brand! This latest guy is no exception; Co-owner of CrossFit Marysville along with Joel Anderson and Rx athlete Noah Pester, Ryan Swobody is an incredible athlete and all around good guy. In 5th place after this year’s Open, Ryan is an obvious force to be reckoned with. Here’s a little bit about Ryan:

I have been a Firefighter/EMT for the past 7 years and have found the occupation to be very rewarding. However, my passion lies in competing, coaching and running our CrossFit Box in Marysville, WA (CrossFit Marysville). CrossFit has changed my life, which is why I set out every day to ensure that others might have the same experience I have.

I am married to my beautiful wife Stephanie and have an amazing 5 month old daughter named Ari. I have been blessed like I never thought possible, and so much of that involves CrossFit!

2012 Open- 5th in NW Region
2011 NW Regionals- 18th
2011 Open- 5th in NW
2010 NW Sectionals- 52nd

As a company, we pride ourselves in our associations with quality people, not just quality athletes. Ryan and Noah fit that billing perfectly and as a result, their box in Marysville, WA is growing at an incredible pace. You can read a fantastic write up on the two of them and their gym on the Games mainsite. Don’t close this page before clicking through to read the post!

These next few days can’t pass quickly enough… it’s time to get down to Puyallup and start yelling! It’s going to be exciting to watch the last years worth of hard work by Ryan, Noah and Connor really pay off. Good luck boys!!

As a side note, those of you who are planning a trip to the Games should make sure to stop by and visit us at our booth! YES YOU HEARD ME CORRECTLY… RX will be repping the best shorts around, on the biggest stage around, with the best supplements around in @BLONYX! Check out their website and discover the products that are being praised by some of the biggest names in CrossFit.

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RX Adds 2011 CrossFit Games Competitior Noah Pester to the team!

May 10 2012 Published by under Events, RX Athletes

The #CrossFit Games NorthWest Regionals are finally approaching and we’ve got a 2nd reason now to be excited about it! The competition level provided by our neighbours to the south will be intense and with it happening so close by, there’s absolutely no reason not to check it out. The event runs from May 25th – 27th at the Americraft Showplex at The Puyallup Fairgrounds in Washington. Grab some friends and make a weekend of it!

After the incredible success that was the #CanadaWestRegionals, we’re jacked up to see some new athletes do it all over again. So who should you head down and yell, scream and cheer for?? Let us make a couple suggestions. Those of you who know any of the athletes that Rx has sponsored here in Canada West know that they’re all some of the strongest, hardest working, and most focused people you’ll ever watch compete… that theme continues with the newest athletes we’ve added to the team in the North West. A little while back we were pumped to introduce Connor Nelson as the 1st athlete from the North West Region to join the team. We’re now having a little trouble containing our excitement with the addition of another top level athlete and individual, Noah Pester!

Noah Pester is one of the co-owners of CrossFit Marysville, an incredible, fast growing box in Marysville, WA. It’s little wonder they’re doing so well with such quality guys running the show (including co-owners Joel Anderson and Ryan Swobody, who was also a top finisher in this year’s Open). We continue to pinch ourselves at the thought of all the incredible athletes who continue to come on board to help us grow our little shorts company. Our athletes are a huge reason for our successes to date as we often catch them going out of their way to turn people on to our brand; It’s something we never take for granted. For those of you who don’t know Noah, here’s a little bit more about him and some recent accomplishments:

I have been doing CrossFit for 4 years now, and I work as a Firefighter/Paramedic in Marysville, WA, and have done that for the past 7 years. I am also a Co-Owner and Coach at CrossFit Marysville. I have been married to my wife Shawna for 8 years; we have a 5 year old son Treyten, and a 3 year old daughter Kenadie.

2012 Open: 6th in NW

2011 CrossFit Games: 39th
2011 NW Regionals: 2nd
2011 Open: 4th in the NW

2010 NW Regionals: 47th
2010 NW Sectionals: 19th

We’re very excited to have Noah on board and can’t wait to watch him tear up the Regionals! So head to Priceline or Hotwire, book a cheap hotel that you can share with some friends and get out to Puyallup May 25th – 27th. It’ll be the easiest way to guarantee you have an incredible weekend and the athletes would love the support!

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Rx Sponsors First Female Athlete!!

May 03 2012 Published by under Apparel, Contests and Promotions, Events, Pics, RX Athletes

It’s Thursday and we’ll be honest, we’re still coming down from the whirlwind of a weekend that was the @CFGCanWestReg! If it was possible to bottle the feeling you get watching all of the athletes give their full effort, we’d be rich… how many have seen PR’s this week during your own training simply due to #RegionalsHangover? I know we have.

Jay and I had an incredible time at the Rx booth hanging out with friends and meeting new ones. We are very blessed to be involved with the amazing community of people that make CrossFit what it is. Our sponsored athletes put out an effort that can only be described as INSPIRING. I don’t know who said it first, but I saw @SteveHowell_01 make a post prior to the Regional’s that said “Full Effort, Full Victory”. That is the perfect way to sum up the performances and every athlete should feel proud of their accomplishments this past weekend. It is becoming scary to think what another year of training is going to do to the level of competition we are going to see in 2013!

“Full Effort, Full Victory”. That is the perfect way to sum up the performances and every athlete should feel proud of their accomplishments…

On that note, as many of you may have seen or heard, we have finally finished our women’s WOD shorts! It has been impossible to mask our excitement as we have been working on these for many, many months and the shorts have been very well received so far. The completion of the shorts allows us to move on to an exciting next step as a company… SPONSORING OUR FIRST FEMALE ATHLETE!

As a young company, we’ve been incredibly fortunate to have received the support we have from the quality and caliber of athletes that have joined our team; this next athlete is no exception. Rx is pleased to announce that Mandy Gill is the first female sponsored athlete to come on board and join the team chalk full of awesome men! Mandy is a phenomenal athlete and the rate at which she continues to get better is scary! Her personality is so infectious, that when Mandy told us “I’m so excited!!! I have to call my mom!”, she had us wanting to call our moms we were so excited! Here is a little more about Mandy:

Is it too Xtreme to say CrossFit is Mandy Gill’s religion?

As far back as Mandy’s parents can remember it was nearly impossible to get her to stop doing handstands in front of the TV every…single…night. After nearly taking out a few TV’s with bad landings her parents decided it was time to channel that energy into something safer! At only five years old Mandy was running the bases on a softball league, and scoring points for her soccer team. This is when her love for sports began. Coming into junior high and high school, there was never a team she didn’t try out for. Failure was not an option.

It was in Mandy’s late teens that she was dealt some challenging cards. She had developed an intense eating disorder, which left her too weak and fatigued to take part in sports. After seeking help and opening up to the public about it, she can now truly say this was one of the greatest gifts she ever received. Why? Because it lead her to Crossfit!

In 2008, Mandy was introduced to her first ever CrossFit experience. Unable to achieve even one push up on her knees at the time, she knew she had found her true passion! Day in and out Mandy could be found at the gym for hours determined to find her true physical and mental strength. It didn’t take long. Before she knew it she was competing in the 2010 CrossFit Games Sectionals, followed by the 2011 CrossFit Games Regional’s, and Taranis Winter Challenge. The support she received was incredible; her Mom never missed an opportunity to cheer on her daughter from the sidelines.

There is no doubt Mandy is living her dream. When she isn’t encouraging others to keep pushing themselves at CrossFit North Vancouver, she’s making her co-workers at The Beat 94.5 do burpees for time! It’s obvious we’ll be seeing a lot more of Mandy Gill in the community, because every time she says or hears the word ‘CrossFit’ it’s impossible not to spot the fire in her eyes!

Words she lives by – ‘Life Begins At The End Of Your Comfort Zone’

Please join us in welcoming Mandy to the team and calling your moms to let them know as well!! We’re excited to get behind Mandy and watch her continue to excel. Make sure to check Mandy out on her Facebook and Twitter pages as well. Keep an eye on our pages tomorrow as well for the announcement of the male and female winners of the weekends Custom Branded Shorts contest!

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