2020 MEMBER AWARDS

Last week we announced the nominees and winners of our 2020 Member Awards. This year we had to utilise the ever useful Zoom for our awards ceremony rather than our annual Christmas do but hopefully the importance, kudos and prestige remained.

This year our awards were:

Member Most Committed to their Training

Member Most Committed to the Saxon community

Member who is the most fun to coach

Most Improved Member

Coolest new comer

The lockdown award

Member Of The Year

Apart from Member of the year the winners are all selected by the coaches. We each nominate someone and then get together and discuss who we feel deserves the award the most out of the nominees.

Member most committed to their training:

This award is to recognise the individual who has gone above and beyond to stay committed and consistent with their training. Who prioritises it, makes time for it and gets it in regardless. Obviously it’s been a weird year for consistency but there were still many of you who shone in keeping committed. The nominees were:

Robyn Williams aka Dobby

John Allison

Sheila Greenacre

Craig Tulis

And the winner was: John Allison

7:30pm John is there. Rain or shine, hot or cold, Monday or Friday. John will be there to train, regardless. He has racked up 144 classes this year excluding anything on Zoom which is a serious amount considering we were closed for nearly 5 months! He is always keen to learn and discuss the hows and whys of what we do and took it on himself to keep his sons, fellow Saxons Declan and Edmund, training hard during lockdown. John, keep it up mate.

Most Fun to coach:

The Most Fun to Coach award is to highlight the individual who brings that special something to the classes they are in. Obviously we love coaching you all and engaging with you in the classes but I think we can all agree some people bring that extra vibe to a class. Whether it is a positive attitude and support for their peers, a comedic story or some top point banter or a solid work ethic and a desire to learn and be coached. The nominees were:

Steve Walsh

Ricky Lewis

Becky Thorp

Luke Cadby-Gledhill aka Vinny D

And the winner was: Steve Walsh

Steve is someone all the coaches love to see in their classes: funny but serious, there to have fun but work hard, supportive and consistent, keen to learn and a snappy dresser. We all genuinely love to see Steves name on TeamUp for the classes we coach and couldn’t think of a better winner. The fact you have a Norwich tattoo drags you down slightly but your ability to laugh about it brings you back up. Top work dude, keep it up.

Most improved member award:

Who has improved as an athlete the most in 2020. Who has progressed their fitness, their level of skill, their attitude to training, their work rate or their pain tolerance. Who has started lifting heavier, hitting more complex movements or pushing their boundaries a little more. Who ultimately has improved.

Now this award was a little different because there was only one nominee. All the coaches, independently, nominated the same person making this an easy decision. Our most improved member of 2020 is Katie Walsh!

Katie has crushed it this year. She has gone from strength to strength, focusing on lifting heavier, form over speed and stimulus over comfort. And it has shown. All the coaches nominated Katie as most improved which is testament to not only how much she has improved but how hard she has worked for us all to notice. We have been so impressed particularly the last few months dude so well done.

Member most committed to the Saxon community Award:

Now it’s cliche to say it but the community is the best thing about CrossFit. People join a gym but they stay for a community. It is what keeps us growing, keeps us going and keeps me grounded. The most committed to the community award is to acknowledge the person who contributes heavily to what we do as a community. To recognise those who are always there, in whatever capacity: competing, supporting, cheering or just being present. It is these people who make our community as epic as it is. It’s been a weird year for ‘community’ but none the less we have been amazed by people’s commitment and contributions to Saxon. The nominees were:

Nicola and Darren Brooks

Sharon Johnson

Sarah Dixon

And the winner was: Sharon Johnson

Sharon is always there, always has been. In whatever capacity she can she has supported Saxon with everything she’s got and this year has been no exception. Despite facing a challenging year herself Sharon has trained with purpose and intent, has supported her peers and the coaches and has been a guiding pillar for me personally on many things. When we held our Tribal event in the summer Sharon was there cheering everyone on, when Jacqui ran her virtual marathon Sharon was there cheering her on, when we held our Halloween event Sharon jumped in, costumed up, and gave it her all. All whilst juggling a new job, moving home and many other stress’s. The Saxon community wouldn’t be what it is without you dude.

Coolest New Comer Award:

A new award this year we thought it important to recognise the people who are new to our community and the impact they have on us all. If we think back to when we first stepped into a CrossFit box and remember how daunting, maybe scary or perhaps exciting it was we can remember how big a deal it is. We wanted to acknowledge those people who step into the box and make the already epic Saxon even more so. Who hit the ground running, embraced our culture and supported our ethos in their first year with us. The nominees were:

Greg Jones

Becca Elmy

Tom McDermot Brown

Andrew Ralston

And the winner was: Greg Jones

Greg is super cool. Greg joined Saxon pretty much the week before the first lockdown but in those first few sessions he saw Saxon for what it was and embraced us. He didn’t hesitate to sign up for a membership, even during lockdown and went on to crush our Zoom sessions for months, got stuck into the outdoor classes in the summer and then fit effortlessly into our normal classes when we could. He is keen to learn, passionate about his fitness and a super nice guy all round. He also has THE best outfits to train in bringing a rainbow to each session he attends. Greg, you are a super cool new comer!

Lockdown Award:

Obviously new the Lockdown Award is to recognise the person who kept their training on point during the lockdowns we’ve had this year. Who took advantage of our kit lends, our Zoom classes and our other member interactions. Who was also there to offer support and advice to the community and coaches during the weird time that has been 2020. A lot of us fell off the wagon or slowed down our training during this year but our nominees all kept their foot on the gas. The nominees were:

Sheila Greenacre

Nicola Brooks

Greg Jones

Robyn Williams

And the winner was: Sheila Greenacre

I think we all know Sheila crushed training during the lockdown. I don’t think I coached a class that Sheila wasn’t in. She was also active in communicating with the coaches and other members during lockdown, she got involved with our online events and discussion and she was generally a positive influence on our community during this time. And I think we can all agree few people train harder or more consistently. Awesome work Sheila.

Member of the Year Award:

This is the only award voted for by you guys, the members. This is where you get to tell us who you think is an epic Saxon. Which of your peers makes you proud to be part of Saxon, makes you want to work a little harder or be a little better. Who makes you feel welcome and at home in a class, who do you feel is a good ambassador for what we do.

It will have been a tough year for this vote. The last twelve months have been very fractured, we’ve been somewhat distant and disjointed due to COVID and our regular training times, routines and classmates will have been disrupted. Never the less we had a great number of votes. I’m going to quickly list everyone who got a vote in the poll. Then I’ll narrow it down to the top 5 before announcing our overall winner.

So the dudes who all got at least one vote:

Steve Walsh Rich Imeson Maddie Brewer Jenna Johnson Sheila GreenacreKatie Walsh Nancy Bussey Lisa Johnson Robyn Williams Vearnon JohnsonSharon Johnson Aaron Bleach Paul Baines Toni Clancy Luke CG Steph JohnsonSam Parker Frances Peters Heidi Mills Jordan Burrell Marc Statham Becky ThorpLisa O’Brien Lindsay Stringer Amelia Gray

A massive well done to everyone who got a vote.

There are 25 names there so to make it on to that list means you have impacted another member considerably in a positive manner. You have inspired or supported someone probably more than you realise. Be proud to have got voted for and keep up being awesome.

Now the short list. The 5 members with the most votes were:

Robyn Williams

Amelia Gray

Maddie Brewer

Aaron Bleach

Paul Baines

Awesome work, all of you. It was close. You should all be incredibly proud of yourselves. I can see why all of you have made this list and would happily crown any of you member of the year. I can’t thank you all enough for being members of Saxon and for contributing so much and working so hard with us.

But there is only one winner. Our 2020 Saxon CrossFit Member of the Year is:

Robyn Williams aka Dobby.

Dobby is probably the coolest guy you’ll meet ever. He has an awesome beard, dresses like a hungover celebrity and has crushed CrossFit in 2020. Fun, funny, supportive, consistent, friendly – you think of a positive word and it will apply to Dobby. He even tolerates being called Dobby.

As well as being a great all round athlete Robyn is super supportive of his peers and will cheer any and everyone on in classes. He comes to events, engages with the coaches, embraces the wider concept of CrossFit and has stepped onto the competition floor too. He is everything I, as a box owner, could want in a member. You are absolutely more than deserving of this award dude, thank you and well done.