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Get To Know The Hot and Talented Athletes Competing in America's Newest Fitness Sport, Grid
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We’d like to introduce you to a brand new sport—The Grid. The newly formed National Pro Grid League brings together a team of co-ed athletes who compete against other teams in fitness races and physical challenges like you’ve never seen before. The New York Rhinos will be making their NPGL debut on August 19th at MSG against the Los Angeles Reign, and we’ve got scoop on some of the NY team’s very talented members—some of whom placed at the top of this year’s CrossFit competitions!
Click through to get to know some of the Rhinos (and see their insane athlete bods), and be sure to purchase tickets to see the New York Rhinos compete at Madison Square Garden on August 19th right HERE!
![Mat fraser new york rhinos](https://media.okmagazine.com/brand-img/eREwZYEd8/480x320/2014/07/mat-fraser-new-york-rhinos.jpg 480w, https://media.okmagazine.com/brand-img/eREwZYEd8/640x427/2014/07/mat-fraser-new-york-rhinos.jpg 640w, https://media.okmagazine.com/brand-img/eREwZYEd8/768x512/2014/07/mat-fraser-new-york-rhinos.jpg 768w, https://media.okmagazine.com/brand-img/eREwZYEd8/1024x683/2014/07/mat-fraser-new-york-rhinos.jpg 1024w, https://media.okmagazine.com/brand-img/eREwZYEd8/1280x854/2014/07/mat-fraser-new-york-rhinos.jpg 1280w, https://media.okmagazine.com/brand-img/eREwZYEd8/1440x960/2014/07/mat-fraser-new-york-rhinos.jpg 1440w, https://media.okmagazine.com/brand-img/eREwZYEd8/1600x1067/2014/07/mat-fraser-new-york-rhinos.jpg 1600w, https://media.okmagazine.com/brand-img/eREwZYEd8/2160x1440/2014/07/mat-fraser-new-york-rhinos.jpg 2160w)
Mat Fraser, who placed second at this year’s Individual Men’s CrossFit competition, has been involved in Olympic weightlifting since he was 12. At one point in his athletic career, he trained at the United States Olympic Training Center in Denver, Colorado!
![Annie thorisdottir new york rhinos](https://media.okmagazine.com/brand-img/pGVswH_q3/375x500/2014/07/annie-thorisdottir-new-york-rhinos.jpg 375w)
Annie Thorisdottir hails from Iceland. And no big deal or anything, but she’s been crowned the World’s Fittest Woman twice!
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Elijah Muhammad, known by his teammates as “EZ,” played college basketball before getting involved in fitness sports. The father of two’s jumping ability is what really sets him apart from the competition—he can jump 40 inches vertically!
![Danielle sidell new york rhinos](https://media.okmagazine.com/brand-img/hkCtJ6KoM/375x500/2014/07/danielle-sidell-new-york-rhinos.jpg 375w)
Danielle Sidell is an active servicewoman in the United States Army and also ran track at her alma mater, University of Akron.
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As you can see, Ben Stoneberg is pretty awesome at fitness sports, though his real passions lie in hiking and snowboarding in the mountains of his native Ohio.
![Amy mandelbaum new york rhinos](https://media.okmagazine.com/brand-img/N4llURLBX/375x500/2014/07/amy-mandelbaum-new-york-rhinos1.jpg 375w)
47-year-old mother of two teens Amy Mandelbaum didn’t partake in competitive sports until she got involved in fitness sports in 2010!
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Andrew Rape can clean and jerk an impressive 395 pounds, which explains why he calls himself “country strong.” Calm yourselves, ladies.
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No surprise here—Rachel Martinez started out as an All-American collegiate gymnast, and clearly her skills on the mat have come in handy today.
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Pretty impressive bunch, right? Don’t forget—you can watch these athletes and the rest of their teammates go up against the Los Angeles Reign LIVE at Madison Square Garden on August 19th by purchasing your tickets HERE.
Don’t live in NYC? Be sure to stream the event—which will consist of 11 races of different types of weightlifting challenges—at NPLG.com! See ya there!