Guide to Successfully Running a CrossFit Competition in Your Gym

Running a CrossFit competition event inside your own gym can provide a bunch of benefits. From giving your members something new to train for to increasing gym revenue, it’s a fun option to consider.

​Affiliate owners who do it well treat it like a second business while it’s running. That means a well-thought-out P&L, volunteer army, and a strong marketing strategy. Here are the main reasons you might want to consider hosting a competition:

• Increased revenue: Generate money for your gym from entry fees, vendor tables, merchandise sales, or even sponsorships from local businesses
• Connected community: Create a shared experience that bonds your members through competing or volunteering on their “home floor”
• Boosted exposure: Social media—and even local media—opportunities are built in, with added impressions from athletes that belong to other local gyms
• Increased retention: Hosting a CrossFit competition gives your members a new training goal, keeping them engaged and motivated
• Elevated reputation: When you prove that you can run a well-organized, fun competition, you boost your “street cred” for future events
• Expanded partnerships: Hosting a CrossFit competition helps you connect with brands in the CrossFit space like FitAid recovery drinks or Wild South Apparel

Let’s look at what it takes to run a fun, profitable event that’s repeatable for the future as well.

5 Steps for Successfully Running a CrossFit Competition

​The key to running a CrossFit competition effectively is to set yourself up for success with all the moving pieces. Here are five steps to make sure you’re prepared in advance. That way, you, your team and the athletes can all have a fun, enjoyable competition day.

1. Define Your Goals

Investing the time and effort into hosting a successful competition isn’t something to be taken lightly. In other words, if you think it’s just a simple cash-grab, you might be setting yourself up to be overwhelmed and underpaid.

As discussed above, there are quite a few reasons why CrossFit gyms choose to host competitions. For your gym specifically, start by deciding what your goal is. Ultimately, this is what will help you measure the overall success of the event.

For example, let’s say your goal is to raise money for a charity. If your event brings in a ton of people but doesn’t turn a profit, you’ve missed the mark. On the other hand, maybe you want to bring in new members. Hosting a beginner-level competition where members are encouraged to pair with a guest who’s not a member could bring in a bunch of new faces.

2. Determine Your Budget for Running a CrossFit Competition

The truth is, there are some expenses involved with running a CrossFit competition. Creating an awesome experience—and making sure your event is safe and organized—will probably require a small investment. Once you create your projected P&L (profit and loss), you can start planning how to make that money back, plus profit.

To determine potential expenses, think about everything that will be needed on competition day. This could be anything from renting portable restrooms to providing prizes for the winning teams. Next, take your list and get quotes or estimate each item so you can add up the total.

3. Outline Your Competition-Day Schedule

One of the make-or-break elements to successfully running a CrossFit competition is the ability to properly manage the schedule. Not only is it frustrating if heats don’t run on time, but punctuality is important for athletes to manage recovery and refueling.

Therefore, the structure of your schedule can have a significant impact on your competition. In addition to planning the actual workouts, figure out how much time to allot for:

• Checking in athletes at the start of the day
• Recovery between workouts for competitors
• Changing equipment or lane setup between workouts
• Necessary breaks for volunteers
• Podium presentation and prizes to close out the day

Pro Tip: Don’t forget to figure out your leaderboard and scoring plan. Use a proven platform like Competition Corner to ensure the competition side of your event is seamless.

4. Promote Registration Early and Often

Every successful CrossFit competition needs competitors, so it’s important to spread the word well in advance. Here are a few options:

• Post flyers with a registration QR code throughout your gym
• Post about the competition consistently on your gym social media
• Create a landing page on your website that provides all the pertinent details
• Send an initial email and text announcing that you’re running a CrossFit competition
• Consistently remind them periodically leading up to the event via email campaigns and text
• Have coaches make announcements in class

And it’s critical that you make it super simple for athletes to register, while covering your bases with everything they need to participate. Registration should include their contact information, team name, apparel sizing, and waivers.

5. Organize Your Dream Team

Judges and volunteers are essential to your success in running a CrossFit competition. The great news is that for most affiliates, your community is filled with people who might not necessarily want to compete, but want to be involved. So judging and volunteering is the perfect opportunity for them.

Judges need to be well-versed on the movements and standards, to ensure a fair competition. They’ll also need to be given the “game plan” for setting up and moving equipment in between workouts.

Volunteers should also be briefed on what’s expected of them throughout the day. For example, you might have early-morning volunteers check athletes in and distribute goodies. Then afternoon volunteers might be in charge of cleanup after the event.

The most important thing to remember on competition day is that both judges and volunteers are giving you their time for free. Think of it like being their boss at work for the day: it’s your responsibility to make sure they have breaks for food, restroom, etc. And actually providing the food is a nice touch (remember to build it into your budget from step two)!

In Summary: Running a CrossFit Competition Can Be Lucrative and Fun

Running a CrossFit competition can be a fun, rewarding way to boost revenue while giving your community something new to train for.

Start by setting your goals, whether it’s to increase revenue and retention, or simply to elevate your reputation for hosting future events. Next, determine your budget and outline your competition-day schedule. Once you have all the details ready, promote the competition early and often. And finally, put together a dream team of judges and volunteers to make the day run smoothly.

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Related: Is The CrossFit Open Still Relevant?