The 2022 Drop-In Awards

It’s time for our 3rd annual Drop-In Awards, and what a year it’s been!  There’s 3 new places that I’ve visited twice this year, an “old reliable” that I’ve been to many times, and we’ve had our first ever-guest review. 
So, who are this year’s standouts?  What makes these CrossFits distinct?  The answers will be revealed over the next seven days.  I can say this much; It’s been a year of great experiences in parts of the country (and beyond) I hadn’t previously been to.  Hopefully, you’ve found the reviews useful for your travels.
So, let’s start get started.  You’ll see an award added to this post each day between today and New Years Eve.  There’s some new awards this year and some established standards.  As always, these awards are for fun…and a little bit of bragging rights. 
Here are your Drop-In Awards for 2022:

The Good Things Come in Small Boxes Award goes to CrossFit Salire in Westmont, IL.  This CrossFit is located in the western Chicago suburbs and, while it’s not too big in size it’s got a lot of great things going for it.  It’s well-equipped and clean.  The coaching is great and the people are friendly.  This was definitely one (actually two) of the standout drop-ins of the year and they’re high on the recommend list.  

​The Location Admiration Award is one of the awards that we’ve had since the beginning.  It’s designed to honor a CrossFit that’s optimally located for vacationing CrossFitters .  This year’s award goes to CrossFit NOLA.  If you haven’t been to New Orleans, it’s a great city.  There’s so much to do, fantastic music and amazing food.  All you need is somewhere to work out.  CrossFit NOLA is the perfect place for that.  Not just because of their location.  They’ve got a great facility, the coaching is excellent and you’ll get one heck of a workout there.  So, if you’re in New Orleans, please enjoy everything this city has to offer but it’s not a complete experience unless you drop in at CrossFit NOLA. 

The Best Workout I Never Had Award is a new award this year.  It might sound a little strange to have an award for somewhere I’ve haven't worked out at but it’s actually for the CrossFit with the best contributed writeup.  I’d love this one to become an annual award so please contact me with your drop-in experiences and we’ll get them up on the blog. 
But let’s give out the award.  The first (hopefully annual) Best Workout I Never Had award goes to V&L Biloxi Fitness in Mississippi.  This writeup was contributed by Honey Parker, who spent a lot of time at V&L so, she got a very good feel for everything they have to offer.  This is a clean, nice-sized facility with very good coaching and a more than reasonable drop-in cost. 
Congratulations to V&L Biloxi Fitness on being the first recipient of this award and thank you to our guest writer, Honey Parker.

The King of the Chippers Award has gone to CrossFit OTG in Egg Harbor Township, NJ for the past two years.  And they’ve done it again!  My wife and I went for the post-Thanksgiving workout this year and true to form, we got a workout and then some. CrossFit OTG is probably the place I’ve done the most drop-ins and it’s an easy place to visit.  I’ve never had a bad experience with the coaches, the people or the facility.  However, the workouts can be taxing at times.  Hhence the award.
​Congratulations to CrossFit OTG on this award and on being our first three-time winner!

The Coach’s Spirit Award is a new award that I expect will become a regular.  It’s for those coaches that go the extra step to make drop-ins feel welcome.  I’ve met so many great coaches so there’s no shortage of candidates for this one.  But this one goes to coach Alicia at CrossFit Cayman.  Coach Alicia is easy going, knows her stuff and is a fun person to be around.  Congratulations to coach Alicia and to CrossFit Cayman for recognizing and hiring good staff.  

The Elbow Room Award was started last year in recognition of the big spaces in CrossFit.  After all, we have an award for smaller CrossFit so fair's fair.  This year’s Elbow Room Award goes to Iron Flag Fitness (home of CrossFit Iron Flag), in Westmont, IL.  Iron Flag has a sizeable workout floor for classes, plus other areas for open workouts, warming up and smaller instructional workouts.  
I also want to give a mention for their work with the youth in the community.  Good causes deserve recognition too and if we start giving out awards for philanthropic activities, Iron Flag is at the top of the list.  Way to go on multiple fronts, Iron Flag!

The Nostalgia Award is our final award for 2022 and it’s new this year.  I visit lots of places annually and there’s a growing list of CrossFits I’d love to return to.  Frankly, there’s so many candidates for this one that it’s difficult to choose.  I’m sure this will become an annual award. 
In reflecting on it, I can’t think of a better first recipient of the Nostalgia Award than CrossFit Beyond in Albany, NY.  My first drop-in was at CrossFit Beyond and if the experience weren’t as good as it was, I probably wouldn’t have tried it again.  My positive interactions with the coaches and athletes there set me on a course that’s been pivotal in maintaining my health on the road and that consistency was the spark that brought Drop-In Diary into existence.  If that’s not worthy of recognition, I don’t know what is.  Thank you, CrossFit Beyond!

And there you have it!  Our 2022 Drop-In Awards.  Lots of great adventures and experiences this year.  Congratulations to our winners for their well-earned awards.  Readers, please keep them in mind for when you’re travelling.  There’s a reason they’re award-winning CrossFits. 
If you’re out there and have a great drop-in experience, we want to hear about it.  Please contact me on the socials or at dropindiary@gmail.com.  Maybe that will be the next Best Workout I Never Had. 
I hope you’ve all enjoyed this year’s awards and reviews.  All the best to everyone in the new year.  Let’s do this again next year!