[Franz29]

Anyone want to get together and order some Op Phoenix tees? They look pretty cool and the money goes to a good cause (shame it can't go to our service-people but that's how it goes).

I am happy to order them and have them shipped to my place if no-one else has already got the ball rolling.

Let me know who is interested and I will look into it.

EDIT: I changed the topic title because it morphed very quickly away from the original intent (which is fine by me). Let's use this topic to come up with sensible ideas for the inaugural games. Pretty sure if we all put our heads together we can come up with something good.
Also moved to UK Events.

[FK Pimp]

to be honest there are plenty of ways of donating to our own service folk that i'd rather spend my money on. Personally I'd rather support our own boys rather than try to help make up for the failings of W's defence policy.

[Franz29]

I couldn't agree more; I just like the tees I already ordered a load of stuff from H4H as Christmas gifts and personal wear and the proceeds from that go to a cause I support fully.

Have to admit though, in the interests of full disclosure, I am slightly biased in that I used to workout with some Navy and Marine guys when I lived in the US (and still do when I am back there on business) so I feel like my cash could be going towards helping out friends rather than the US military machine. Just like our service men and women, they are just trying to do a job and if I can help get people home safely then I feel like it is worthwhile.

Having said that, if anyone wants to think of a way to raise money for our guys and donate it I would be behind it 100%. We keep talking about a UK CF Games or even an FK-UK games; I would love to have the fees for that go towards a British services charity (and we can design our own cool tees for that too )

[FK Pimp]

Yeah - I like that idea.

Chet?

[Andy]

Guys I have been up for this for ages but it's just a nightmare to organise. Trying to get a venue is a hassle as well. I spoke with a few running track/athletics venues and got the response that they don't buy in to any one type of charity. I was talking to them about the help for heroes campaign trying to get free rental of the venue. I'll try again and see what happens.

[glasshouse_bc]

Hey Andy

Just a thought....have you thought of speaking to an actual forces base......I know a few of them have their own tracks etc......Tidworth have a full arena and track I believe [full of 'percy pongo's' mind you, but there you go ] I believe RAF Cosford has a place too. Temeraire in Portsmouth has a place too [RN PTI school].

They may be more receptive to something like this, especially if it is for the guys in service !!

Just a thought.

Have a great one

[FK Pimp]

What about lympston?
we could include a crack at the assault course in the "games".

[glasshouse_bc]

I don't recall Lympstone having a Track......big Gym....and the assualt course.....but it was a few years ago that I was there last.....that bloody endurance course....that freakin little tunnel in the pool......nightmare!

I know that there was an issue with letting members of the public use the assault course....tried to arrange it with HMS Collingwood about 9 years and was told that there was insurance concerns over members of the public using an assault course....may have changed in the last few years mind...

Anyhooo, off to the gym....time to be brutal....

have a great one

[Franz29]

Aldershot Military Stadium is worth a shot. I know they do public events because my old American Football team played there (still do AFAIK, I retired). Nice track, good facilities; won't even be too full of Pongos, and at least we keep the Crabs out of it

Pirbright might be an option, I seem to recall them doing public events on their course and ranges anyway. I will see what I can dig up on that.

Shame we can't talk Mr. Mouse let us use his course in exchange for our help building the darned thing, but he'd rightly want a share of the proceeds.

[Andy]

Spoke with Chief Petty Officer at Temeraire in Portsmouth. I said it was for charity and he was keen but there is a lot of red tape obviously and he did say that BMF were turned down due to the fact that they have to do checks on people and BMF don't vet their members. this may be where we fall down. I have to write a letter to the Commanding Officer outlining what we want to do and dates etc. Not gonna put numbers down but we need to see if this is a goer before doing all the leg work. I was thinking possibly March/April time next year which will give us enough time to organise, raise awareness and let people know there will be a charge for entry and what charity we are doing it for. I am still keen on the help the heroes although after seeing what those f*ckheads did to baby p and the short comings of the child protection people involved the national society for the protection of children is high on my list (not sure what money would do other than be wasted though).

We really need to establish what WODs would be used. I am taking it we are opening this up to all crossfitters in the u.k. I was thinking all those that are members of affiliates at present, all those that are not members but are members of forums i.e. here and the affilaites themselves. The reason i say we need to establish events is I have some awesome people at my affiliate but alot of them can't do pull ups. Many are only just getting to grips with cleans etc. They are awesome at some of the other movements/exercises but it would be unfair to stick in max rep pull ups as one of the WODs. Something like the deadlift burpee WOD would be ideal, a run maybe, FGB etc.

Then there is the entry cost. £10-£20 doesn't seem to be unfair but it depends on what venue we get and whether they charge as this may take up a chunk of the money. Loughborough will charge us full whack, i spoke to them earlier also. I mentioned to Temeraire that it was for help the heroes, not sure they mind what charity it's for (within reason). Just need someone to buy in to what we are doing.

Anyway enough waffling. Any ideas welcome.

[Franz29]

The trouble with pre-defined WODS is that people will train specifically for those events, whereas the hopper version will force a more GPP scenario; I do see the point though and it is something that should be taken into consideration. Maybe allow some form of substitution or alteration with a pre-defined time penalty or something.

Also raises another interesting (to me at least ) point: What to call the darned thing. If we go with CF-UK games or similar are we restricted to members here, likewise, is calling it the CrossFit Games too restrictive? It's not going to be the official CFGames event, CFHQ is supposed to be organising that for next year as the preliminary to entering the Official CFGames in California and I am sure they wouldn't want us to hijack that for our causes (despite their propensity to do things for the US forces). The event needs to be broad and inclusive, the whole idea is to raise money for the services so I think we should have as many people participating as possible, so the details should reflect this. This is one of those things to consider as we progress.

Broad and inclusive of course leaves us open to the non-vetting of members issue seen by BMF. Did the CPO tell you what sort of checks we would need to do on participants before we would be allowed to use the facilities? I am assuming CRB and similar to determine that we aren't part of some extremist militant group. If we know what we need to do we can look into the cost/feasibility of having the checks. It would mean an earlier closing date for entries but should be doable if not too expensive.

One other group to think about approaching is the UKNDA (Here) WFS); a non-profit organisation dedicated to raising awareness and funding for our forces. I am sure they would get behind anything that they can get a media interest in. If we give them enough carrots they may be able to help us out with cost/venues etc. Most are ex-military and senior officers/ratings so may be able to navigate through the red tape.

Man, I have a load of thoughts on this, too many to pur down now. I will jot some down as the day goes on then bring them back to the table later.

[WalkerFit]

I have the contact for the UK Firefighter's charity. I'm sure a fire service venue would suffice if you did a 50% Forces/50% Fire Service Charity fundraiser. Let me know if you require any more advice re how to advance this.

[Franz29]

Crossfit Tyneside, on Nov 13 2008, 01:30 PM, said:

I have the contact for the UK Firefighter's charity. I'm sure a fire service venue would suffice if you did a 50% Forces/50% Fire Service Charity fundraiser. Let me know if you require any more advice re how to advance this.

Chet and I had discussed bringing you in on this but we hadn't got round to actioning on it before the thread exploded. I, for one, have no problem with half the proceeds going to the Firefighter's charities and half to the services.

[FK Pimp]

In terms of format - what about a 50:50 pre defined WO (FGB works well and has been reco'd for charity bifters in the past) and hopper type job on the day.

As for charities - I would have thought we could split it any way we liked - Fire/Forces/Sprogs is cool - although I rasied 3k for NSPCC a couple of years ago when I did the three peaks.

[Mark]

We have some home office venues, I will put out some feelers.....

[Paul]

FGB would be a great one for this. I also like the idea of multiple events. And I can't help but think (surprise, surprise) that a running event (even just a track race or equivalent... 1500m? mile?) would also be great

I also have no problems with where the money goes. Forces, Fire, Children etc. is all sounding good to me.

[Franz29]

Yup, FGB would be good, although we may have to sub something for the C2. Burpees maybe?

[Mark]

Is there a rough date????? as I want to be fit, but for me it would need to be June-ish.

Also I can bring 3 C2's. 2@ minimum.

[Franz29]

CrossfitDerby, on Nov 15 2008, 04:10 PM, said:

Is there a rough date????? as I want to be fit, but for me it would need to be June-ish.

Nothing yet, it's up in the air for discussion.

I think if we are really serious about this we need to organise a group to take it on, which means sorting out the venue, format, costs and dates etc. I'm up for being a part of it and Andy is already doing a lot of legwork for it so I would nominate him if he agrees.

Let me know if you (any of you) would be interested in being part of the committee and we can take it from there and get th eball rolling for real.