Our winners of our 2023 Member Awards were announced on Saturday night 9th December at our Christmas Party.
This year our very own CrossFit Box was the Christmas Party’s venue.
Members transformed the gym into a wonderful Christmas venue, Brough food and drinks, organised party games, and they made the whole evening a fun and fantastic time. What a brilliant community we have!
This year our member awards were:
Most Committed to Training
Most Improved
Most Committed to the Saxon community
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.
Most Committed to 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. In 2023 we have seen a significant increase in dedication to training from our members. The top 5 are;
5th Carl Mcgranachan
4th Maddison Brooks
3rd Frances Peters
2nd Stephanie Cochrane
Our winner of Most Committed to Training Award;
Gareth Sims
Gareth can be found at the box most days, at the crack of dawn, rain or shine, hot or cold. He calmly destroys every workout, makes all weights look weightless and tackles every skill CrossFit can throw at him. Gareth has attended 199 classes so far this year, (January 1st to November 30th) averaging 4.17 sessions a week, that’s impressively consistent. On top of his training at the box Gareth has competed in house competition and has represented Saxon at the Suffolk Games Competitions
Gareth’s dedication and calm get it done attitude is and inspiration to members and coaches alike.
Most Improved :
Who has improved as an athlete the most in 2023. 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.
This years choice was extremely hard, there have been so many members that have made excellent progress, impressing coach and member. After much debate and consideration the winners of the female and male categories were;
Chloe Howell and Arturo Bernal Santoyo
Chloe joined us December 2021. This year Chloe has battled hard to train and attend classes. She’s attended open gym and additional individual training sessions with the coaches to rapidly improve her fitness and strength. She’s taken her skill levels to another level, especially making pull ups and toes to bar, look like a walk in the park. A standout of this year has been Chloe’s PB count, nearly every week, she smashes one of her PB’s. Brilliant Chloe, very well done.
Arturo joined us September 2022. A rugby player and body builder he already impressed and, who would of thought he could, from such a high bar, become even more impressive. This year Arturo made it his mission to compete at all Saxon competitions and take on external competitions, The Suffolk Games and Battle Cancer. Arturo attends all the specialist classes in addition to the CrossFit classes, he listens to and acts on the coaches advice and encouragement, achieving amazing progress this year. Friendly and welcoming to all who train and compete with him, he impresses with his character, as well as his fitness, strength and teamwork. Brilliant Arturo, well done.
Member most committed to the Saxon community:
Members make our community and what a special community we have at Saxon.
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’s such a pleasure and humbling experience to choose the winner of this category. All our members make significant contributions to our community, we see day in day out their generosity of spirit and support for their fellow members and ourselves, the Saxon Team. This year, yet again, there have been many many members that have gone above and beyond. I could mention nearly all our members for support that they’ve given to fellow members, coaches and Saxon Team, so always a difficult choice to make. Thank you all.
This year though, we’ve been supported very very regularly by the winner of this award, or should I say winners.
The Brooks Family, Darren, Nic, Maddie, Brandon and Harvey
Darren, Maddie, Brandon and Harvey have helped shift equipment, set up and represent Saxon at every outside event Saxon organised or attended, Nic’s helped at all bar one, where she had a great excuse, as she was recovering from Knee operation.
All of the Brook’s will help at the drop of a hat, decorating, cleaning, and even organising games for the Christmas Party. Thank you the Brooks Family, Darren, Nic, Maddie, Brandon and Harvey.
Member of the Year:
This is the only award voted for by you, 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 you feel is a good ambassador for what we do.
This year, yet again, we had the most votes ever. All these Saxon members were voted for.
Arturo Bernal Santoyo, Becky Thorp, Bex Reynolds, Carl Mcgranachan, Chloe Howell, Frances Peters, Greg Mitchell, Jasmine Ayton, Jemma Raw, John Allison, Katie Fryatt, Katrina Lucas, Kev Howell, Lisa Blogg, Maddison Brooks, Sam Parker, Sheila Greenacre, Tom Cook.
A massive well done to everyone who got a vote. You have inspired or supported someone more than you realise.
To the award…
In 3rd place: Arturo Bernal Santoyo
In 2nd place: Jemma Raw
First and your Saxon CrossFit Member of the Year 2023 Frances Peters
I think these few direct quotes from a few that voted for Frances are very much her:
“She is just a quiet monster”
“Smashed it in the Crossfit Open 2023, despite not having the use of an ACL in her knee! Always a regular attendee and has recently embraced being upside down for at least 90% of her time at the box. She is always happy, helpful, keen and humble. She is a brilliant human being”
“She is incredibly dedicated to her training and improving her skills. I love seeing the daily upside down updates. She is always a friendly face at events and is one of Saxon’s biggest cheerleaders. She is a wonderful person and has always inspired me ❤️”
“She’s super inspirational, fit but also a kind human 🙂 x”
“As well as being impressive she is always helpful and welcoming to everyone new and old :)”
“Consistently encouraging and supporting members and for being so positive”
Wonderful Frances, very well deserved.
Frances has had an amazing CrossFit journey since she joined us in 2017. You can read more about this in Frances Peters; My CrossFit Journey – Saxon CrossFit Chronicles