Loud and Live Sports, the company behind CrossFit Sanctionals like Wodapalooza and the Granite Games, is launching a new digital competition and using it as the testbed for a new event streaming platform that allows viewers to closely follow their favorite athletes. (That includes side-by-side viewing and comparisons.)
The event, called The Trials, seeks to gather a wide range of competitors to submit scores for six workouts over a ten-day period in December. Loud and Live heralds the event as an opportunity to “compete on a global scale, from home.”
The Trials Format
Starting on December 4, 2020, a new test of fitness will be announced each day through the 9th, and competitors will be given until the 14th to film and submit their best attempts. This portion of the event is known as The Trials. The top three athletes in each region will then have their workouts compiled into a new broadcasting platform and streamed as a two-day The Finals event on January 16 and 17, 2021.
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An Event You Can Do At Home
Loud and Live has worked to make this event attainable for as many people as possible. They’ve announced a low entry fee, competition in three global regions, two broadcast languages, minimal equipment, and ten total divisions.
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Regions and Languages
The Trials have been broken into three primary regions. The Spanish Trials encompasses 51 European countries, the LATAM Trials takes on 20 South- and Central-American countries, while the US Trials includes athletes in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. The Finals broadcast will be available simultaneously with both English and Spanish commentary.
Programming and Divisions
Programming for The Trials was done in partnership with CompTrain, and has yielded workouts requiring only minimal equipment: a jump rope and a pair of dumbbells. Whether competitors will be doing double-unders (and which weight they’ll need for their dumbbells) depends on the division they register for. The event itself offers ten divisions. Competitors have a choice between age groups ranging from Teens to Masters, or age-independent Scaled, Intermediate, RX, and Elite categories.
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Professional Athletes and Prizes
The Trials is attracting some impressive talent. While the full list of registrants is hidden until the first leaderboard update, Loud and Live has announced the competitive field will include CrossFit Games athletes like Dani Speegle and Sean Sweeney. For The Finals, an $18,000 USD prize purse has been offered, with $5,000 USD going to each of the Elite Male and Elite Female division winners.
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Proving a New Platform
The Trials Finals will serve as a testing ground for more than the athletes: Loud and Live Sports will be testing an all-new streaming platform they’ve built. The platform seeks to provide a better digital experience to close the gap created by the shutdown of in-person spectator sports.
One of the key features is the ability to control which athletes you’re following during the event.
“Want to see two of your favorite athletes side by side? You can. Want to watch your friend full-screen? You can. Want to watch all the athletes repping your region? No problem,” Loud and Live wrote us over email. “A rep counter along with commentators calling the action will provide context for who is winning each workout, no matter what athletes viewers choose to watch.”
Also included in the platform will be an interactive community chat and a toggle to choose which language you’d like the commentary to be in (The Trials Finals will include Spanish and English). While all of the sessions you’ll be watching are pre-recorded at different times and in different places around the world, they’ll be synced up for a gripping shoulder-to-shoulder feel.
Featured image: @loudlivesports on Instagram