Versatile Fraser leads again
MADISON – Mat Fraser likes to say that he could go to any gym in the country and find someone who could out-squat him. And then he could go to any college track practice and find lots of runners who could beat him in a mile.
But put those two things together — a strength test and a speed test — and that’s where Fraser wins. He’s fast, powerful and strong.
“I’m not trying to squat 600 pounds,” said Fraser. “I’m not trying to run a 4minute mile.
“I’m trying to run a 5minute mile and squat 500.”
That’s the warrior. And the 5-foot-7, 190-pound defending champion of the CrossFit Games heads into the final day of competition leading everyone once again because he is such an exceptional, all-around, athlete. That’s the whole point. The CrossFit Games aim to find the fittest man and woman on earth.
And for the first time in the decade-long history of the championships, the CrossFit Games are in Madison this year, located on and around the campus of the Alliant Energy Center. The games, featuring 640 athletes in all, began Thursday and conclude Sunday. The venue has the look and feel of an Olympics, with different race courses and athletic challenges all over the grounds, in the coliseum and on the open fields. The distinction here is that all the competitors do everything.
The Games opened with a 1.5 mile run-500-meter swim-1.5 mile run morning race, followed by an afternoon cyclocross race, followed by a gym workout of muscle ups and squat snatches timed as a race. The following days followed a similar varied format.
Points are awarded for each event or “WOD” — CrossFit’s workout of the day — and tallied for overall placement. Fraser is among the 80 elite competitors. There are also masters divisions for those 35 and older, and teen competitions as well as team competitions.
Wisconsin’s only qualifier, Jeb Simmons, led the 40-44 masters division on Day 1 and continued with a strong performance Day 2.
Some of the exercises are classics people would easily recognize and others — hay bale clean burpees, or handstand walks and handstand pushups — are uniquely CrossFit.
“In one event, they made a piece of equipment called the Cheese Curd,” Fraser said. “It was 100pound sand bag that’s bright yellow.”
Some 60,000 spectators were expected over the four days, the Madison Area Sports Commission said, and many of the fans are members of a local CrossFit gym. It’s an engaged crowd, and the appreciation to watch the games in the Midwest — after the games were in Carson, Calif., for a decade — was obvious.
“I know all the competitors, when we were walking on the field, we couldn’t believe how many fans were there,” said Fraser. “That definitely added some enthusiasm. When we were in L.A., we were just a blip on the radar. No one cared that we were there.
“Coming to Madison was obviously a concern for a lot of people because the games had been in California for so long. We knew what to expect. Those concerns, for myself, got settled immediately. We realized how much the town got behind it.”
Fraser noticed every restaurant he visited in Madison had the “CrossFit” menu. There are pictures and signs up everywhere to tout the Games. Autograph seekers have also recognized Fraser, a Vermont native one onetime Olympic hopeful, who recovered from a broken back to win the CrossFit Games last year in dominating fashion.
“It was pretty wild, going in to the airport,” said Fraser. “The security guards said, ‘Hey, good luck this weekend, Mat.’ I’m like, oh... OK, thank you! It’s pretty cool.”
But for the most part, this has been an-all business trip for Fraser. By Saturday night, many athletes hit the survival mode switch, exhausted from the first three days.
“We train all year for these four days,” said Fraser. ”It’s not like we have 10 games for the season and then the playoffs. This is what our entire year comes down for. This is it.”