Orla Walsh said she is one of the best OCR athletes in the world. Tonight she got a second chance to prove it. Brittany lost a 15+ minute Pit with a split-second mistake. Tonight she gets a second chance to turn back the clock. Brenna came back a different athlete intent on dominating the competition. Sara plowed through her competition last time but made a mental mistake in the Pit. She’s back for redemption.

The rules are the same tonight as last week with the men. Two rounds, two winners go to the Skullbuster. The best time wins $25,000. April and Brittney went first into the Drain. April prepared by training wrestling. A wise move.

Brittney started off with a locked in a bear hug with April just hanging on. Then she made a great reversal and dunked April. They pushed off one another, locked like lions, and finally, after four attempts, April hit the bell.

Jennette and Orla went next. They pushed off hard and Orla elbowed Jennette right in the face leaving a trail of blood. The sharks circled furiously in the water after smelling that. Orla moved on.

Gretchen and Ana promised game time body contact and they totally delivered right off the jump. The strategy here was nothing short of drowning. Gasping for breath at each leap, they fought to hit the bell. Ana succeeded with a graze and moved on.

The last two girls, Brenna and Sara, the two Beasts, went last. Both are well-known in OCR so it was only a question of who would win, the Blond or Red Beast. They smashed each other against the edge and ripped each other apart on the rough sides of the Drain. Brenna the Red Beast slipped out of Sara’s grip and hit the bell.

Tonight’s Pit started with the Octagon. These 800-pound tumblers called on sheer brute strength and a lot of lungs. Orla and April went first. They ran hard and April started her Octagon rolling first. Orla struggled but got it going and kept the momentum. She was not too far behind to get counted out. April crossed the finish line first but Orla had plenty of time to strategize and get in at around 45 seconds to go.

April started with a kick but Orla took most of the force out of it and took April down. Orla had the advantage top position. April reversed after Orla almost pushed her to the edge. Orla got back on top and after a few solid head butts, she managed to push April’s hand out into the sand.

Brenna and Ana wrapped up the Octagon with an easy stride down the track. Ana got her’s moving first but Brenna caught up. Ana used a hand over hand technique while Brenna used a forceful push on her Octagon. Ana’s technique was more energy conservative and that extra burst proved the end for Brenna. Ana went low, grabbed Brenna’s leg, and in seconds took her right out with a massive explosion.

Ana and Orla went to the Skullbuster. So far so good for the OCR girl putting her muscles where her mouth is when she promised a victory at the start of the show. Ana elected to run the course first. So it was CrossFit versus OCR. My money was on OCR of course. Ana said she spent the last two years training for this moment. The only question is, did that training include running with heavy stuff?

She yoked the log and made a strong run. She stuck the landing on the cargo net. Her breathing appeared in control but her body language and expressions did not show the grit and determination I expected. But looks were deceiving. She took the semi through the turnstile rapidly and bounded over to the landing pads. She started to slow down at Burnout and Heartbreak Hill put her on all fours along with very rapid, shallow breathing. She made it to the top and slid down on her butt. The downhill gave her some momentum into Rib Cage. She tossed them without problem. All that was left was the Rope Burn. She S-wrapped and stopped halfway up. She lost it all and slid down. Steve gave her a second chance. Not a quitter, Ana went up again, locked in solid on the rope. Slowly and steadily she made it up 20 feet and stopped again. Her feet came out of the S-wrap and she slid down again. It was a DNF. Hardly what she or anybody expected from an experienced CrossFitter.

Steve told her that up until Burn Out, Ana was ahead of the Season 5 pace, besting Cassidy and Corinna. But she’ll never know if she could have won.

Orla elected to go all out on the Skullbuster. She had to finish if she wanted to win the $25 G’s. Once again the producers cut out most of the run so it was impossible to gauge how she was doing. At the rope, she said, “That bell’s mine Steve.” And that’s exactly what she did.

Orla’s time was 9:00, the third best ever on this Skullbuster. She was on Cloud 9. Like the rest of us who know and love OCR, she went home, ready to relish the sweet pain of that shower water over open, raw wounds. These are the battle scars earned and proudly shown for the rest of the OCR world to know that Orla is truly one of the best.

Share this post!