CrossFit Cheltenham - April 2026

Welcome to the Spring CrossFit Cheltenham Newsletter!

It’s been a busy couple of months at the gym with the CrossFit Open, Quarterfinals, and plenty of PBs across classes. Read below for Open highlights, member achievements, upcoming competitions, and a few events we’ve got planned this spring.

Key Dates

Predator Same Sex 3's Scaled and Rx's Comp - Saturday 18th April

Padel Tournament - Sunday 19th April - 13:00-15:30

Team Training - Saturday 9th May - 9-10:30

In-House Same Sex Pairs Comp - Saturday 27th June

Predator Master's Mix Sex Pairs Comp - Saturday 3rd October

Predator Mix Sex Pairs Comp - Saturday 28th November

The 2026 CrossFit Open

Congratulations to everyone who participated in the 2026 CrossFit Open and Quarterfinals! Whether you've only been doing CrossFit for a few months and this was your first open or you've been doing it many years and you managed to improved by a couple of percentiles, you all did amazing!

Open Teams

Members who signed up for the Open were randomly placed into four teams, each led by one of our coaches. The goal was simple: keep everyone accountable, motivated, and connected throughout the three weeks of the Open. The competition wasn’t just about leaderboard positions and teams could also earn bonus points by getting involved with Friday Night lights or achieving any sort of personal best. This meant that everyone had the opportunity to contribute to their team, regardless of experience level. Congratulations to everyone in Serg's team who took home the win this year!

Open Magic

There was lots of Open magic this year:

Lewis Jones → First time all Rx open workouts

Libby Napper → First chest to bar; First time all Rx open workouts

Sarah Oosthuizen → First time all Rx open workouts

Abby Smith → First Rx Open workout; First time doing all Rx

Jess Falshaw → First weight for clean; First weight for thruster

Andrew Bunce → First time all Rx open workouts

Kirsty Gardner → 1st Rx open workout; First Rx wall ball; First Rx box jump over; 1st ever pull up for me!!; First time doing weights for cleans and thrusters

Vicky Yorke → First time all Rx open workouts; 1st chest to bar; First time doing a weight on a thruster

Jolene Earle-Vanhecke → First Rx wall ball; First Rx box jump over; First pull up; First time doing weights on cleans and thrusters

Kel Monstad → First time all Rx open workouts

Molly Beetham → 1st chest to bar; First time all Rx open workouts

Dirk Cziesla → 1st chest-to-bar

Sophia Brumann → 1st proper pull-ups

Nick Phillips → First ring muscle-ups in 7 years

Barry Andrews → First Rx open workout; First Rx wall ball

Andrew Kings → First Rx open workout; First Rx box jump over

Rachel Offord → First Rx open workout; First Rx wall ball; First Rx box jump over

Vicki Grimshaw → First Rx open workout; First Rx wall balls

Rich Vidgen → First Rx wall ball

Bizzie Ascham → First time all Rx open workouts

Quarterfinals

We had an amazing 19 people finish in the top 25% worldwide and make it through to the quarterfinals this year which is an amazing achievement. Congratulations to Abi, Amy, Ben, Bizzie, Ellie, Femke, Frankie, Holly, Jenn, Libby, Lizzie, Lorea, Molly, Nick, Rich, Sarah, Srdan, Steve, and Tom! There were some tough quarterfinal workouts so well done to everyone that tried them in class too and helped create a good atmosphere for our quarterfinalists.

Huge congratulations to Amy and Rich who both made it through to the semi-finals!

Member Highlight

Tommy Lait’s LEJOG Adventure

If you’ve noticed I’ve been a bit of a stranger at the gym lately… I’ve just swapped the barbell for a bike (for now!).

Over the past few months, I’ve been putting a lot of focus into cycling as I prepare for a pretty big challenge: riding LEJOG - that’s Land’s End to John o’ Groats - covering the full length of the UK. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do, and CFC member Adam Pickford is also joining me on the ride. While I know it will be an amazing experience, there’s a much more important reason behind it.

Last September, my dad was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease (MND). It’s a devastating condition, and like many families facing it, we’ve been learning just how tough the journey can be. Taking on LEJOG feels like a small but meaningful way to do something positive - to raise awareness and funds to support the incredible work being done by the MND Association to fight this disease and support those affected by it.

While I’ve not been in the gym as much recently, CrossFit has played a huge role in building the strength and resilience I’m relying on for this challenge - so I’ll definitely be drawing on the hundreds of burpees when the miles start to bite!

If you’d like to follow the journey, find me on Strava, or if you are able to support the cause, I’ve set up a JustGiving page.

Absolutely no pressure at all, but any donation, big or small, would mean a lot to me and my family.

And don’t worry… once the ride is done, I’ll be back and ready to pick up a barbell again (although maybe after a few days off!).

Thanks for all the support - and hopefully see you back in the gym soon!

February and March PB's

We’ve also seen loads of personal bests over the past couple of months. Here are just a few highlights from February and March:

Lyndon → 3RM snatch 27.5kg; 3RM deadlift 55kg; 1RM hang snatch 40kg; 5RM deadlift 55kg; toes-to-bar - 8 reps; 1RM hang power clean 42.5 kg; first banded bar muscle-up

Andy → 1st C2B; 1st linked toes-to-bar

Jo C-J → 5RM deadlift 60kg

Mel → 5RM deadlift 60kg

Ali → 5RM deadlift 60kg

Kirsty → 5RM deadlift 80kg

Emily B → Kipping pull up x2

Anita → 1RM hang squat snatch 41kg

Libby → 10 double-unders unbroken Kel → 20 double-unders unbroken

Molly → 1RM strict pull-up 7.5kg; handstand walk - 17ft

Barry → 1RM strict pull-up 22.5kg

Sam Munn → push jerk 80kg

Tanya → deadlift – Bizzie

Abi H → 5 bar muscle-ups

Bizzie → 45 double-unders unbroken

Predator Same Sex 3's Comp

Our next predator competition is the Predator Same Sex 3's Scaled and Rx Comp this Saturday the 18th of April. As usual, there will only be a HIT45 class that morning, running slightly earlier than normal at 7:40am.

It's shaping up to be a busy competition and we have currently have 4 CrossFit Cheltenham Teams competing.

If you're not competing but you're around that day it would be amazing if you could come and volunteer. We are always in need of judges to help the day run smoothly. Please message or speak to Bizzie or Steve if you're interested or have any questions.

Padel Tournament

The CrossFit competition on Saturday is just the warm-up… it’s time for the real test of athletic ability: our Padel Tournament returns this Sunday the 19th of April and we’d love as many of you there as possible. Please book on via TeamUp as soon as you can so we know numbers.

No experience is necessary as we’ll run through all the rules before we start, so everyone will be able to jump in and enjoy it. Please arrive at 1pm sharp so we can explain the format, run through the basic rules, and get the first matches started on time.

It should be a really fun afternoon and a great chance to hang out with other members outside the gym. See you there!

Velites

A few members have expressed interest in getting some Velites gear. We'll be doing another order in the coming weeks. If you need some grips, wristbands, or their swanky new barefoot shoes please purchase them on our TeamUp store. You'll get 20% off the RRP. If there's an item on the Velites website that is not on our store, please drop up a message and we'll add it on

Thanks for being part of the CrossFit Cheltenham community. Have a great April and we’ll see you in the gym!

Steve, Bizzie, and the CrossFit Cheltenham Coaching Team

Spring Newsletter