Tribal Clash 2015
Tribal Clash is one of the most anticipated events of the UK's competition calendar. This year's event took place between the 21st and 23rd August. Here's Kitbox ambassador Jo Caulton's review of the weekend.
Tribal clash: the south coast beach event that takes athletes of all abilities, and throws them into new, obscure events we don't get to do in everyday box life. Where being a "good athlete" doesn't give you any guarantees, bringing over 100 teams together for the chance to WOD in the sand and have FUN!
This was my second year running at Tribal Clash. The combination of imaginative, out-the-box workouts, along with a great setting and fantastic organisation, didn't disappoint.
The Team
This time, I got to play with the boys and girls of Team Kratos, my nutrition sponsor. Having competed with the team several times this year, I could't wait for the opportunity to get down to Blackpool Sands and see what Tribal had to throw at us.
As a team, we all have majorly different strengths:
- Mike - the warhorse,
- Paulo - the super fit team spirit champ,
- Stuart - the resident tough guy and swimming fish,
- Chloe - the Ferrari engine,
- Rachel - amazing adaptability to any workout given
I couldn't ask for a better team.
The Preparation
As prep, swimming had to come top priority. We all hit the pool several times, but no amount of pool work could prepare for the COLD British sea!
I knew lifting obscure objects would play heavily over the weekends workouts, so I purposely trained with axel bars, ropes, logs and atlas stones, getting used to the awkward nature of the event.
Probably my favourite training tool was the mattress burpees - a great idea from my coach to replicate sand burpees! It's just a shame it didn't prepare me for the mouth full of stones you kept getting on each rep! But still, it did help to simulate the "sinking" feeling.
Favourite Event
The highlight for me was the Worm event, called Anaconda. The strategy was simple: no teamwork - means the worm is going nowhere!
You had to be synchronised all the way from bottom of beach to the top, and when you have athletes ranging from over 6ft to 5ft 2, it could have been very difficult. However, with a strong call from our team captain, and our steady-but-precise approach, we managed to blast the lunge walk up the beach, perform 100 worm squats, and head back down the beach.
I'm sure we all wanted to bury our heads in the sand before the AMRAP rope climbs at the end, but we pulled together to chip away in the remaining time and win the event.
Least Favourite Event
My least favourite event was the Heavy Sprint. As a regional athlete, you'd think I'd be okay with a sled pull - until you give me a tyre, that is!
As I said at the start, being good at conventional movements isn't always helpful. I certainly struggled getting that tyre to the top - even if I'm sure it was filled with extra stones!
Overall I'm happy with my individual performance, making friends with a nemesis of mine (rope climbs), and I'm certainly happy with our 2nd place team finish.
Tribal Clash brings out the best in teams - maybe it's the sea air, or the Caribbean-type weather we had, but I enjoyed every moment with my Kratos family.
Thinking of Entering?
Do you want to enter next year? DO IT! It has to be up there with my number 1 UK events.
My major tips would be:
- Know your team,
- Train together with random objects, and do weird and wonderful WODs,
- Go open water swimming,
- Practise being in synch on a range of movements, regardless of heights.
- Wear matching outfits - you're not a Tribal team until you have matching stance socks or vests!
I've now got a few weeks off competing. August has been hectic for me, doing a lot of competitions, so I'm now hitting training hard to prep for the Xendurance event in November at the Excel arena.
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