CrossFit Fort Vancouver returning to CrossFit Games

CrossFit Fort Vancouver has done it again.

For the eighth consecutive season the team from Vancouver has qualified for the CrossFit Games, the annual competition for top CrossFit gyms and individual athletes from around the world.

CrossFit Fort Vancouver finished third in the CrossFit Games West Regional, which was held Friday through Sunday at the Moda Center in Portland. Only CrossFit Fort Vancouver and CrossFit Invictus from San Diego have qualified for the CrossFit Games each of the last eight years.

CrossFit Fort Vancouver owner Adam Neiffer, who has been on all eight teams, said the Moda Center felt like a home-field advantage with vocal support from many members of the gym and the local community. Joining Neiffer on the team for the regional were Mathew Hornung, Jeremiah Doyle, Andrea Roozen, Danielle Resha and Betsy Simser.

Doyle was an alternate who stepped in for the injured Brian Weed.

“We had to overcome a little bit of adversity,” Neiffer said.

After Friday’s first three events, CrossFit Fort Vancouver sat in eighth place among the 30 competing teams. By placing second, fifth and sixth in Saturday’s three events, the team moved into the top five. It solidified its position by winning Sunday’s first event. But a 12th-place finish in the second Sunday event kept several teams within range to pass the Vancouver team.

CrossFit Fort Vancouver clinched its trip to the Games by placing second in the final event of the competition, which involved a 25-minute barbell relay and rope climb.

The West Regional brought together 30 teams that qualified at the state or province level — 15 from western Canada and 15 from the states of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming.

A total of 40 teams from eight regionals will compete at the 2016 Rebok CrossFit Games, which take place July 19-24 at StubHub Center in Carson, Calif.