LYNNFIELD — Thomas Ackerman had quite the performance down in Madison, Wis.
The 67-year-old returned to the CrossFit Games after missing out on 2020’s limited event due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The competition took place over three days and Ackerman participated in seven different events. This was the fourth event that Ackerman has been able to participate in.
The road to Wisconsin is a long one. The journey started in February when participants entered the competition by submitting scores from their local gym. In the following “qualifier,” Ackerman ended up finishing in first place. After the long process, he eventually was among 20 individuals from his age group to get selected for the games.
Out of the seven events at the games, Ackerman finished in second place three times, third twice and 16th place in the swimming event — the performance that likely knocked him out of the running for the competition.
Ackerman said that it felt great to make his return to the CrossFit Games even though he admitted there was some concern due to a recent uptick in COVID-19 cases. He said that all the athletes and volunteers were tested or had to be vaccinated.
The best part about CrossFit for Ackerman is the fact that it has given him a second family.
“I see the people in the class before me that are leaving and the people in the class after me,” he said. “It’s not a 3- or 4- or 5,000-member club like Life Fitness or one of those places, it’s really only a couple hundred people, so you get to know most of the members and you hang around with them and you know their kids.”
Ackerman said that he has even been to a few kids’ birthday parties.
“I see these people every day,” he said. “The little kids, the mother, the father, I see them every day. It’s almost like an extended family.”
Though he doesn’t know for certain if he will continue to participate in the Games every year like he used to, Ackerman said that he intends on participating in CrossFit for a long time to come.
