Not long after the first workout of the 2018 CrossFit Open was announced and athletes around the world began furiously hoisting toes-to-bars and dumbbells to overhead, CrossFit relaunched another of the sport’s beloved traditions: the friendly rivalry between Rory Mckernan and Adrian Bozman.
The two competing against one another in the Open has become something of an institution in the sport. The Reebok CrossFit® Games Host and Head Judge have been engaging in epic Open bouts since 2011 in what CrossFit HQ once called their “eternal struggle for bragging rights.”
In a broadcast of the 18.1 faceoff, Pat Sherwood described the appeal:
They represent the community, the common man. i can relate a lot more to what Ro and Boz do than seeing Samantha Briggs destroy it — that’s science fiction compared to what I’m going to do. So while that’s inspirational, Ro and Boz are a great metric.
A reminder, the workout looks like this:
8 Toes-to-Bar
10 Dumbbell Hang Clean & Jerks (5 each arm; men use 50 pounds, women use 35 pounds)
14/12 Calories Rowed on a Concept 2 Rower (men/women)
As many reps as possible in 20 minutes. The men’s Rx for the dumbbell is 50 pounds and for the women it’s 35 pounds.
[Still hoping to make your best score for 18.1? These are the best tips from some of CrossFit’s top athletes and coaches.]
Without further ado, here’s the workout in its entirety, which has an intro and running commentary from Pat Sherwood, Tommy Marquez, and Sean Woodland.
We won’t spoil it for you, but stick around until after the workout for a Q&A with the victor, who gives some great tips on how he dominated the event.
Since 2011, Bozman has racked up the most wins and he beat Mckernan last year as well. What’s the scoreboard going to look like this year? Place your bets — we think Mckernan is going to give him a run for his money this year.
Featured image via The CrossFit Games on Facebook.