Congratulations are in order to one of our fellow members at Motor City Crossfit, Andrew Astalos, who two weekends ago competed in the US National Long Track Speedskating Championships in Lake Placid. Not only did he win his age group, but he broke the national record in every distance in his age class.
Then, this past weekend he won his division at the North American Long Track Championships in Milwaukee, winning every race there as well (and his times would have placed him second in the next division above him).
Now, this is no small feat, he is primarily a short track speedskater (think Apolo Ohno), which is a completely different type of racing than Long Track Speedskating (think Dan Jansen, Bonnie Blair, etc). These are on top of a number of short track victories across the country and in Canada, as well as winning the 2007 North American Short Track Speedskating Championships in Midland, MI last spring.
We’ve watched an incredible change in him during his training here at Motor City Crossfit, and he is definitely a competitor, often outperforming many tremendously fit people. Unfortunately, most of his friends seem to be scared to try a workout with us, and rightfully so, the way he works, he’d leave them in the dust. He has shown incredible resolve to train hard, and his skating has improved tremendously. Watch out for him in Sochi in 2014.