2017 Reebok CrossFit Games

Masters Athlete Saves Drowning Competitor At 2017 Reebok CrossFit Games

Masters Athlete Saves Drowning Competitor At 2017 Reebok CrossFit Games

62 year old Robert Caslin saved a competitor from drowning at the 2017 Reebok CrossFit Games.

Aug 7, 2017 by Armen Hammer
Masters Athlete Saves Drowning Competitor At 2017 Reebok CrossFit Games
The CrossFit Games are about more than competition, big checks, and crowning the Fittest On Earth. At the end of the day, all the competitors are part of this family of CrossFitters and they look out after one another. Nothing proved that more than Robert Caslin saving a competitor from drowning during the Masters Run Swim Run event.

According the CrossFit, 62-year-old Robert Caslin was nearly done with the swim portion of the Run Swim Run event when he heard someone calling for help behind him.

The man in trouble was 57-year-old Will Powell, an admittedly poor swimmer who also happens to have a large benign tumor in his lungs.

Caslin, who had gotten to know Powell over the previous times they'd competed at the CrossFit Games, immediately turned back to help his fellow competitor.

I'm not going anywhere until we make sure you're safe.
Caslin got to Powell and was able to pull him to the surface and help keep him above water with help from another competitor, 56-year-old Gus VanDerVoort. Caslin helped keep Powell afloat as a kayak finally met them followed shortly by a judge's motorboat.

When offered the opportunity to leave Powell with the judges and return to his spot in the water, Caslin turned it down. Instead, he took the DNF on the event and ran in the final 1.5 miles with Powell, finally crossing the finish line together.

Caslin put it all in perspective quite simply: "We're all in this together. It's not about one event, it's not about one weekend -- it's a community."

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