Dave Castro said that Day 1 of the 2018 CrossFit Games would be the hardest day in the history of the sport. We now know why he said that. After biking 7.5 miles, doing 30 muscle-ups (unbroken) and completing the CrossFit Total, the athletes will sit down on a Concept 2 Rower and row 42,195, or a full marathon.
Event 4 will be the longest event in Games history, bypassing the Half Marathon Row at the 2013 CrossFit Games and the Camp Pendleton Triathlon. This event will be nearly three hours for the fastest athletes and capped at four hours for those who are not prepared to go long.
The event was announced this evening at the athlete dinner by Dave Castro. The announcement left the athletes speechless at first as they tried to come to grips with sitting on a rower for 3-4 hours.
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Castro said he has done a full marathon row twice in the past. The first time he finished it in 3 hours and 45 minutes. He was unsatisfied and did it again, this time in about 3 hours and 14 minutes.
How fast will the top athletes complete it? Back in 2013, Jason Khalipa blitzed the field and finishing a half marathon in 1:18:02. Sam Briggs finished 1st on the women’s side in 1:27:49.
The Concept 2 World Record Marathon Row is 2:21:08, set by Ben de Wit in 2016. On the women’s side, the world record is 2:47:18 set by Erin-Monique O’Brien in 2017.
