Happy anniversary throwdown at Crossfit ALC, Alicante

Posted 20 oktober 2017

Destination Europe, Spain

Checking out Crossfit ALC’s online crossfit schedule, Tamara stumbled upon a three hour scheduled weekend wod. But it turned out to be their 5th anniversary team throwdown! Well, that’s what you could call a special drop-in…

Two boxes, one owner

Road tripping along the coast of Spain, my second stop (after Valencia) is Alicante! This city contains 5 official crossfit boxes which are widely spread around town. Since I was staying just out of Alicante, I checked out two boxes on the west side of Alicante: Crossfit ALC and Crossfit Alicante. It happens to be that both boxes are from the same owner: Javier Soro.

He started Crossfit ALC in 2012 and two years later Crossfit Alicante followed in 2014. Soro got the opportunity to start a second box next to a gym in a more residential neighborhood in Alicante. This also gave him the opportunity to reach a new population and to build up another crossfit community.

5 years of ALC

Taking stock after 5 years, the ALC community includes 230 members, 8 coaches and exists of and area of 780m2, with a 500m2 training zone. It’s located in an industrial area and entering the place it feels like how a crossfit box in my option should feel: raw, industrial and a great place where training and hard work are to be done. And now they were ready for their 5 year anniversary, starting la fiesta with a 4 person team throwdown consisting of 3 crossfit workouts.

International team skills

Warming up with a short run around the block, I found my (international) team buddies in ALC members Laurent (France), Oliwia (Poland) and Fernando (Spain). We started off with crossfit wod number 1: completing a relay-race of 2000m running with a 10 kg sandbag (max. 250m each) and 2000m running without one (also max. 250m each).

: Our international team

After all teams finished running, Javier explained wod number 2: ‘Arrangatas – or power cleans – with different weights each representing a number of points. In 15 rounds of 30 seconds each team should try to get as many points as possible. Unfortunately a muscle in my shoulder didn’t fully agree with this approach and after only three of rounds, I was due to quit to prevent further injury. Fortunately, my cheering skills didn’t let me down so my team finished the wod anyhow.

Special drop-in

Due to other duties as work and study, our team had to skip the third and last wod. But I’m pretty sure to say that this was one of my most special drop-ins so far. Not the thing you would expect on a regular drop-in on a Saturday during your summer holiday, but it was great to see a big part of the ALC community together to celebrate their anniversary and enjoy a day of team work-outs together! And although I was just a visitor, I felt part of their community for a day since everybody was very helpful and friendly. So a big gracias to Javier, Laurent, Oliwia, Fernando and all the other ALC athletes for having me! And I might see you at your next anniversary! 😉

Nice to know

Crossfit ALC is located at Calle Benejama, 11 in Alicante, Spain.
Most boxes in Spain are not opened on Sundays. On Saturdays they usually have open gym or wod scheduled until 13/14 hours. So make sure to check the schedule(or ‘horario’) upfront if you’re visiting during the weekend.
Crossfit ALC is not really located in the city centre, so a car might be handy to get there.
Bring your swimming gear, as Alicante has a nice city beach.

BewarenBewaren

Alicante, Crossfit ALC, crossfit travel, Drop-in, Spain

Tamara den Hartog

Riding my bike to the city centre and back home in Rotterdam, I drove past this little gym several times a week. One day I bumped into a friend who just stepped outside with a red, heated face and a big smile. He told me he was doing Crossfit and that it was a supercool work-out that basically almost killed you, but was superfun to do. Well, long story short: I signed up for my first class in March 2015 and I got well infected with the Crossfit fever.

Planning my holidays to Singapore and Bali, I was searching the internet to read about some experiences by other Crossfitters visiting boxes abroad. However, very little reviews were available. And that is how I came up with the idea of Wod Abroad: sharing and spreading the Crossfit fever on an international level. These past years I got to visit new boxes (which are usually located outside the touristy area’s of a city), learned a lot about different cultures by talking to lots of Crossfitters from various backgrounds, and more than once got me on hotspots off the beaten track after tips by local Crossfitters.

Also I am very blessed to have found like-minded friends who contribute to this blog by sharing their own experiences and travels. We hope you enjoy reading our blogs and please reach out if you have any questions or nice things to share.