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From a first time competitor to a seasoned CrossFit athlete, everyone is invited to participate in the annual BCS Classic competition. BoomFit Home of College Station CrossFit has created one of the largest CrossFit competitions in the state of Texas with over 800 athletes and more than 3,000 attendees. With year 14 of the BCS Classic on the horizon, BoomFit owner Charlie Lima has promised that this year might be the biggest to date and will continue to follow the BoomFit gym values of family, fitness and faith.
Starting in 2010 at the Lincoln Center in College Station, the BCS Classic is a CrossFit competition for athletes with a wide range of athletic experience. When athletes choose to compete in the BCS Classic, they are supporting two charities that have made an amazing impact on the BoomFit gym family. In the past four years, the BCS Classic has donated over $100,000 to the Ronald McDonald House Charities and over $35,000 to Mayhem Mission.
The Ronald McDonald House holds a special place in Charlie’s heart, as he and his family needed the support of the charity just days after his fourth son was born in 2019.
“I would call myself a seasoned dad at this point,” Charlie says. “I went in with no reason to think that this would be different other than a new baby. He was born full term, but the nurses said they were taking him to the NICU. I told my wife I would be right back, and then three hours later, things were getting worse and one of the doctors said he was going to get life flighted to Texas Children’s. They told us to prepare for the worst and that he probably would not live.”
After spending three days in the cardiovascular intensive care unit, doctors discovered that the Lima's son suffered from a condition called persistent pulmonary hypertension of a newborn (PPHN), which means that he just needed a little bit more time to transition to breathing outside of the womb, Charlie says.
With three kids back in Bryan, the stress of the past few days began to wear on the family. After staying in the Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit, or CVICU, for eight days, the Lima’s son was finally transferred back to the NICU. The CVICU was large enough for the family of the patient to sleep in the same room, but the NICU has no space for the family, Charlie says. So when his son was transferred out of the CVICU, the Lima’s refused to leave his side a that’s when the Ronald McDonald House stepped in.
“I had heard of Ronald McDonald but never actually knew what they did until that experience,” Charlie says. “The Ronald McDonald House is literally connected to the hospital, and that’s the whole reason they exist. They’re there to help offset some of the traumatic and emotional experiences that people have suffered. We were there for three weeks and we were finally able to have our other kids come visit us there because of their help.”
After the Ronald McDonald House charity supported his family in a time of need, it was a no-brainer that this was one of the charities that the BCS Classic would support.
“I told my wife that we have this really awesome opportunity to donate a lot of money towards an organization,” Charlie says. “I asked her, ‘Who do you think we should donate towards?’ It was so obvious, she instantly said the Ronald McDonald House.”
The BCS Classic will be held on August 25 and August 26 consisting of multiple events including, male/male teams, female/male teams and female/female teams. All of the qualifications for the event are programmed by 10X CrossFit Games Champion, Rich Froning, who is most well known for achieving first place in the CrossFit Games from 2011 through 2014, earning him the title of “Fittest Man on Earth.”
“When I first started this, I wanted some really influential keynote speakers,” Charlie says. “I always thought it would be so cool to get Rich Froning to come. He’s a CrossFit Games Champion who is also anchored in his faith. Someone put me in touch and I shared my vision, and he said, ‘Ok, I’m in’. I just kept saying to myself, ‘Wow, Rich Froning is coming!’”
Outside of the BCS Classic, BoomFit Home of College Station CrossFit gym has a lot to offer the community of Bryan/College Station. The gym provides athletes with 8,000 square feet of space, an indoor air conditioned personal training studio, newly remodeled locker rooms with showers, child care, an outdoor CrossFit training area and body composition analysis. BoomFit has a vision of showing athletes that working out can have a positive impact on their physical and mental health.
“What you experience at the BCS Classic is what members at BoomFit experience every day,” Charlie says. “It is soaked in our values, which are family, fitness and faith. That’s the driving force that makes our event have the impact that it does, and the same applies to the gym. That’s why you choose a gym, not because of the super fancy equipment, it’s more of the air and atmosphere you breathe at the gym. The culture at BoomFit is the values expressing themselves, and the values are intentionally set by us, and that determines everything.”
In addition to the original location on Longmire, BoomFit will be expanding to a second location on University set to open Labor Day, September 4. The new location is 12,000 square feet and is the former location of D1.
The BCS Classic will be hosted on Friday, August 25 and Saturday, August 26 at the Brazos Valley Expo Center in Bryan. Spectator tickets are available for purchase for both days for a cost of $35. To reserve your ticket, visit bcsclassic.com.
