Community + Competition--Catacombs Throwdown

On Saturday October 1st, we hosted our first ever Catacombs Throwdown benefiting the House of Champions. House of Champions is a nonprofit organization focused on helping motivated members of the amputee and disabled communities receive needed medical equipment and support to work toward health and fitness. We hosted 47 athletes from Pagosa Springs, Telluride, Cortez, and Durango. Proudly, there were 14 of our very own Catacombs Fitness athletes who participated. Athletes across 3 divisions competed in 4 different events that tested their metabolic capacity, strength, power output, and gymnastics skills.

Events like this take an army of volunteers and we are grateful to everyone who donated their time, energy, or muscle to help pull this off. Special shout outs to our Super Volunteers:

• Amber Fondon our head judge/event coordinator and without her I wouldn’t have been able to put on this event;
• Joon Kee Bae our amazing MC, who gave us the play by play all day long;
• Isaiah Childers our head of the pit crew who kept our athletes on time, and made sure the equipment was ready for each heat;
• Kaitlyn Alexander for helping secure sponsors and setting up and breaking down the event.

We appreciate every single person who came out to cheer and spectate. The atmosphere was electric and made such a difference for our competitors.

Next, a huge thank you to all of our sponsors. The success of this event is due in large part to our amazing sponsors.

• Rx sponsors included SGM, Avalanche Bowl Co., Game One Sports, and Derailed Pour House for donating money or prizes towards our participating athletes.
• Intermediate sponsors included Taco Libre, WJ Doyle, Taste Coffee, and 11th Street for providing our volunteers with coffee, food, and beverages throughout the day.
• Our individual sponsors included Heather Hooten and Caroline Munger. These amazing humans donated prizes for our first place athletes and helped provide our participating athletes with some swag. Also, Erika and Bill Luthy donated their PA system, which kept our athletes inspired by the music all day long. 

And finally, to the Catacombs community, who did what you do best: show up and graciously welcome and support all of the athletes. Our volunteer turnout was incredible. From our judges, to pit crew, and those who were helping with registration. All of you are what made this event happen and run so smoothly.

To the athletes from our Catacombs Fitness Community, thank you for challenging yourself and stepping outside your comfort zone. Catacombs Athletes included:

Men’s Scaled: Jeff Kane (1st Place), Phil McGuire (2nd Place), TB (Third Place), Josh Clark

Women’s Scaled: Claire Macpherson (2nd Place), Daryl Philipp

Men’s Intermediate: Mack Otter (1st Place), Matt Smith (3rd Place), Aaron Hyder

Women’s Intermediate: Jennifer Rigual (2nd Place), Robin Hartman

Men’s Rx: Yoshi Yumibe (1st Place), Dakota Miller (2nd Place), Russell Allmandinger

As I reflect on the event, I am even more blown away by the amount of positivity that surrounded the event. For many, this was there first competion. For others, they were excited to get their first handstand push ups or pull ups while training specifically for this event. Watching the competitors congratulate each other or pick each other up after they had dueled it out on the competition floor, is by far one of my proudest moments from the Catacombs Throwdown. When we hear the word “competition,” some may think of a cutthroat environment. However, those in attendance witnessed a supportive, positive, and welcoming environment. Athletes, supporters, family members, volunteers all cheering for every athlete, even those who were the last left out on the floor—especially the last on the floor. There are many reasons why I compete, but the most important reason and my main drive for running the Catacombs Throwdown, was to share this camaraderie with our Catacombs Fitness Community.