Robbin Stalma and Floor Jongmans have handed over the reins of their CrossFit Licensed, Netherlands based event, The Lowlands Throwdown, to new owners.
Originally founded in 2010 as ‘Sint Gone Bad’, the event was rebranded as The Lowlands Throwdown in 2011 and Robbin and Floor first became involved in organizing the competition almost 10 years ago. Since its first iteration the event has grown to become one of the key dates in the European CrossFit season.
In 2020 the event was announced as a Semifinal event for the CrossFit Games before being cancelled to due COVID restrictions. It returned as a Semi-Final again in 2021, before being forced to run as an online event due to lingering restrictions and sent Emma McQuaid and Björgvin Karl Guðmundsson and CrossFit Nordic to the Games as champions, finishing 12th, 4th and 9th respectively in Madison. Finally, in 2022, The Lowlands Throwdown hosted the event they had spent three years preparing for as the in person Semi Final event was hosted in Amsterdam.
It didn’t disappoint.
Lazar Djukic came out on top, edging past BKG in a weekend long back and forth that will hopefully be repeated in Berlin this year. Laura Horvath was crowned female champion, in a fitting nod to the past. She had previously been champion in 2016 and 2017. While the rest of the world were oblivious to her potential and talent before she burst onto the global scene in 2018, CrossFit fans in The Netherlands were watching her climb on top of podiums at The Lowlands Throwdown. Laura is one of many athletes to cut her teeth at The Lowlands Throwdown. Last year, in The Lowlands Throwdown Classic there were 21 divisions taking part, after online qualifiers, alongside the Semi Final event. Nicole Crouch won the Female RX division and this year is aiming to make the trip to Madison on Team Training BFG.
“Organizing the CrossFit Games Semifinal was the icing on the cake and we want to end things on a high note,” Stalma and Jongmans said in a statement. “We are proud to see where we came from and what the event has become” they continued “for us and some of our team members, organizing the event on a volunteer basis took too much of our daily job and personal life…we decided to step back and stop as organizers of the The Lowlands Throwdown.”
The event will be taken over by CF Events. Joost Prinsen and Karen Tovmasjan of CF Events said, “We will focus on bringing back the classics. The concept of the event will remain the same.” They added that, “We have many years of experience organizing events and ensuring quality while making the events fun for athletes, crew and spectators.”
CF Events currently run The Dutch Throwdown, Barcelona Throwdown, The Belgium Showdown and Scandinavian Throwdown, so, they are no strangers to putting on large scale competitive events with a community focus.
The Lowlands Throwdown is dead. Long live the The Lowlands Throwdown.
