No Excuses CrossFit celebrated 10 years as an affiliate on Saturday with its yearly competition — Birthday Bash. The event was a fundraiser to raise money to buy 25 children and seniors Christmas gifts through the North Gwinnett Co-Op.

The event drew 13 teams, led by No Excuses’s eight teams, and also included an adaptive division.

A Few Ex-cuses, the competitor division winners, were confident coming into the competition. “I just wanted to have fun. I don’t like to go into competitions with expectations, so I just wanted to enjoy it,” A Few Ex-cuses team member Kyle Spears said. “My team wanted to win, but I just wanted to do the best I could today.”

A Few Ex-Excuses team members also praised the Birthday Bash format. “I enjoyed how smoothly it ran,” Spears said. “Everything was on time, the judges were great. The set up was really great by going from one workout to the next. It was just a good, well-run competition.”

Spicy Tuna Tacos, the social division winners, were surprised to come out on top. “I thought we might place fourth or fifth place, I didn’t think we were going to win,” Spicy Tuna Tacos team member Yessica Rojas said. “I didn’t know the other teams. I just wanted to have fun.”

R. Michelle Burnette won the women’s upper standing adaptive division and Tate Barber won the women’s seated division. Barber really enjoyed the ability to compete with other adaptive athletes. “I wanted to have fun, and getting to see people I normally don’t see like Amy and Charlotte,” Barber said. “I was really excited about that because I typically don’t get to workout with people like me.”

The adaptive division was given movement standards just like the Competitor and Social divisions, which Barber enjoyed.
“I really loved that everything was super standardized,” Barber said. “It wasn’t like some people are going to do this and some people are going to do that. I really liked that.”

Sponsors for the event were Edge Solutions and Innovative Architects. First-place prizes were donated by Lululemon at Mall of Georgia.

We really appreciate our volunteers for donating their time: Mary Beth Krone, Sarah Montes, Cameron Weeks, Chris Fischer, Tyler Botts, Geoff Clott, Michelle Lomax, Barbara Parsons, Jeremy Edmondson, Vanessa Whitten, Adam Reese, Vy Trinh, Haja Donzo, Kaitlin Tyson, Maria Corvera.

All podium teams and categories
Full results can be viewed here.
Competitor Division
1st A Few Ex-Cuses (Parts Unknown), 384 points
2nd #leviBROsa (CrossFit Paragon), 377 points
3rd Ashes and Coal is Our Goal (No Excuses, Knockout, Pure), 337 points

Social Division
1st Spicy Tuna Tacos (No Excuses CrossFit), 377 points
2nd Wodding Crashers (CrossFit Valitus), 369 points
3rd School House WOD (No Excuses CrossFit), 342 points

Upper Standing Division
1st R. Michelle Burnette (Cumming Strength & Fitness), 400 points

Seated Division
1st Tate Barber (CrossFit Remnant), 400 points
2nd Amy Hood (No Excuses CrossFit), 361
3rd Charlotte Merle-Smith (CrossFit Iron Legion), 347