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Sudbury native to take on one of the continent's toughest obstacle courses

Crystal Wasney heads to Lake Tahoe for Satruday's grueling 26-km Spartan World Championship
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Sudbury native Crystal Yukich (née Wasney) balances her family, work and fitness and she will head to Lake Tahoe, California this weekend for the Spartan World Championship race. Supplied photo.

There's a good chance you have seen what obstacle course races on television, or even taken part in a fundraiser race like Mudmoiselle or Miner's Mayhem yourself.

Sudbury native Crystal Yukich (née Wasney) takes part in these events at the highest and most competitive level and she will test herself against some of the top athletes on the OCR (Obstacle Course Race) circuit for the Spartan World Championship on Oct. 1.

Yukich will travel to Lake Tahoe, California for the Saturday race that spans 26 km through some rugged, mountain terrain. If that weren't enough, Spartan races also include up to 35 obstacles along the way, including rope nets, barbed wire and carrying propane tanks.

Raised in Lively, and a graduate of Collège Notre-Dame, Yukich has always been a natural athelete and excelled while in high school.

"I tried to play on every team possible when I was in school," she said. "I played flag football, volleyball, tennis, badminton, ran track. We won a city championship for flag football and we almost made it to OFSSAA one year for tennis, too, I think."

She also played in local soccer and baseball leagues outside of school athletics.

Crystal now makes her home in Ottawa, after departing Sudbury to study biochemistry at the University of Ottawa. She has been working as a personal trainer and health educator for the past 10 years.

For those familiar with Sudbury's Mudmoiselle race, you should have a good handle on what it is Yukich does — albeit taken to an extreme level. She belongs to the Canadian Mud Queens, an elite team made up of women from across the country who take part in these obstacle course races.

"That was kind of my foot in the door into OCR," said Yukich. "I've been highly active with the Mud Queens and I've been training at the OCR Academy. It's a new facility in Ottawa. I've been going there a lot and other athletes who have been going there decided to put an elite team together, so that kind of piqued my interest to stick with elite this year."

The Spartan World Championship is broken down into different divisions and races. You can't just sign up — racers have to earn their way in. Yukich's elite team earned a coin to race in the top tier, where first place pays $15,000.

She will also take part in the OCR World Championships at Blue Mountain on Oct. 15. 

Tough terrain is what separates these events from your run-of-the-mill, marathon-style race, and strange as it may sound, Yukich admits to not being the biggest fan of running.

"I say I don't like running and everyone laughs at that because obviously I'm running these races," said Yukich. "Spartan is held on a mountain and they're usually on ski hills and places with a lot of incline, which I prefer to flat running. I've always said I'll never do a marathon or half-marathon because I don't really enjoy running on pavement."

Yukich isn't against flat running — as long as there's lots of obstacles involved.

"I'm doing one in Ottawa on Oct. 22 in a baseball stadium," she said. "It's the obstacles that I like: monkey bars, rope climb, rings."

Not only does Crystal tackle obstacles on the course during race day, but she is constantly working to help others conquer their own obstacles.

She runs a fitness bootcamp on Parliament Hill weekly, and next year she hopes to help a friend with spina bifida, who is currently in a wheelchair, through an OCR race for his first time. 

She also balanaces raising her three young children; her son, Colton, is already involved in the OCR scene and has completed a seven-kilometre race at just six-years-old.

Next year's plans include a return trip to her old stomping grounds, as well.

"I'm hoping to get some of my team members to come to Miner's Mayhem with me next summer," said Yukich. "I'm definitely hoping to come up and do that."

You can follow Crystal on Facebook an on her website CYFitnessMatters.ca.


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