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Whitehorse crossfitters battle in Alberta

Members of CrossFit 86Seven muscled their way to impressive results recently. Four athletes from the Whitehorse crossfit chapter based out of Peak Fitness competed in team events at the Battle on the Border in Lloydminster, Alta.

Members of CrossFit 86Seven muscled their way to impressive results recently.

Four athletes from the Whitehorse crossfit chapter based out of Peak Fitness competed in team events at the Battle on the Border in Lloydminster, Alta., Feb. 14-16.

“We were pretty nervous at the beginning because this was our first one and there was a pretty big crowd there,” said Whitehorse’s Cliff Schultz. “We ended up not doing too bad. We calmed down, went into the finals and placed eighth.”

Schultz and teammate Mike Hartwig cracked the top 10 in four events en route to placing eighth out of 34 in the men’s team event. 86Seven teammates Holly Hartwig and Danielle Swift topped out with a 43rd place in one event on their way to 67th out of 72 women’s teams.

Schultz, 39, and Hartwig, 36, were the oldest competitors in the competition. But that didn’t stop the “Sweaty Monkeys” team from placing third in the final. They completed the workout - 30-metre farmer carry of two 75-pound weights, 30 clean and jerk/snatches of 115 pounds, followed by another 30-metre farmer carry - in six minutes and 14 seconds.

However, a fifth place finish in the third event stands out in Schultz’s mind. That one was an A.M.R.A.P (as many rounds as possible) event in which competitors burnt 10 calories on an Assault AirBike, completed eight toes to bars - touching toes to the chin-up bar - and six dumbbell thrusts. (An Assault bike is a stationary exercise bike that uses a fan for pedal resistance and has handlebars that are pumped.)

“That one there was pretty intense,” said Schultz. “We pushed ourselves hard ... It was hard on the lungs - that assault bike was brutal. It really gets the heart rate up and really puts your body to the test.”

Holly and Swift, who competed under the team name Bar Belles, placed 43rd in a pull-up contest and finished with 49th in a single-skip/deadlift/sled push event.

“They got a little bit frustrated, but as they went on they got stronger too,” said Schultz. “That gave them a little incentive to keep pushing and to start training again.”

The CrossFit fitness program and competition was founded in 2000 in California and has grown to include over 13,000 affiliated gyms worldwide. The CrossFit Games - the world championship - have been held annually since 2007.

Contact Tom Patrick at

tomp@yukon-news.com