CrossFit Inc. on Monday announced that Wodapalooza, a global fitness festival and inclusive competition, is joining the roster as the seventh event to be sanctioned by CrossFit.
In 2019, Wodapalooza’s top male and female individual competitors, as w ell as the top four-person team, will qualify to the Reebok CrossFit Games in Madison, WI. The much-anticipated announcement recognizes Wodapalooza’s history as a popular, diverse and community-driven festival. Wodapalooza is the latest community-based competition to join the growing ranks of newly-sanctioned CrossFit competitive events around the globe.
The Wodapalooza Fitness Festival takes place every January in Miami, FL, and has become a popular destination for the CrossFit community.
“Wodapalooza brings its distinctive character and culture to the CrossFit Games season,” said CrossFit founder and Chairman Greg Glassman. “They figured out that Miami in winter–sun, bathing suits, balconies and bright lights at night–is a world-class destination for showcasing the fittest and healthiest people on earth. It’s a party.”
Wodapalooza attracts tens of thousands of attendees from all over the world each year to participate in and watch their fellow athletes compete across 40 different competitive divisions, including the world’s most elite. “This partnership represents a new chapter in our history, and we look forward to working with CrossFit to continue bringing our partners, spectators and competing athletes an unforgettable event and competition in January,” said Matt O’Keefe, president of Loud and Live Sports (a division of Loud and Live, Inc., owner of Wodapalooza).
The Wodapalooza CrossFit competition is open to all athletes and kicks off this week with their online challenge and qualifier. As with all CrossFit-sanctioned events in the 2019 Games season, should the top male or female athlete at Wodapalooza qualify for the CrossFit Games by other means, then the number two podium finisher will receive a Games invitation. Athletes can qualify for the 2019 CrossFit Games via four paths: (1) winning their country’s national championship as determined by the worldwide CrossFit Open; (2) taking first-place at a CrossFit-sanctioned event; (3) placing within the top twenty finishers in the 2019 CrossFit Open (4) or participating as one of four at-large athletes selected by CrossFit, Inc.
Wodapalooza is not only a fitness competition but also a celebration of the CrossFit community’s unique commitment to health and fitness. This year, thousands of participants and attendees from around the world will have the opportunity both to compete in a newly-sanctioned event and to experience learn, and take part in a broad range of festival activities, including live music, workshops, seminars and other educational and participatory events.
