Michelle Ford is a true inspiration to us all. I watched in November as she came in third place at World's Toughest Mudder. The entire time that I saw her on the live footage she was smiling, happy and looked like she was having a great time. It was her positive and genuine spirit that made me want to feature her in this article series - not to mention the fact that she is a genuine badass.
Lisa Nondorf had been brought to my attention before as someone that needed to be profiled for this series. She has a background in competitive gymnastics and diving, which provides her with a versatile skill set for the OCR (mental grit, discipline, and stamina). In this, her third season of OCR she has been able to podium 8 out of 10 races.
As the Director of people and culture at the PUR Company, Cerys Cook works hard to build and foster an amazing team of individuals. In fact, the PUR Company was recently awarded the 2017 Most Admired Corporate Culture in Canada award. Building the best corporate culture in Canada was not an easy task, and I am sure that Cerys is very proud of the team that she continues to develop.
What makes Jaclyn a Badass Woman in the OCR community, is that not only does she strive to work on her own OCR game, and helps those women around her strengthen their skills and ability through a free facebook challenge group she hosts.
Francesca Chiorando is quite the interesting gal. She is a blogger, an avid OCR enthusiast, and part of the Ghost Squad. She has a passionate giving spirit and truly cares about those wanting to push themselves and reach new personal goals. Having just had a baby recently, Francesca shares her struggles with getting fit again and keeps it real.
I wanted to feature Emily Celuch in my article series in a huge way after reading her story. In my eyes, Emily has many “beyond” bad ass traits. Although she faces struggles with PCOS, PTSD from being a domestic abuse survivor, and being a single mom, she manages to get onto an OCR course and use the mud and challenges to help heal. Her story is a powerful one of how she’s overcome many difficult obstacles in her life, and how it’s making her into a Badass Woman of OCR.
The VancityOCR Wolfpack (my home OCR team) is composed of a variety of athletes of all levels and abilities. We range from those tackling their first OCR type event, to the very elite. For someone new to our sport, it can be very intimidating to join in, as you never know where to start or who to talk to about an event that may interest you, but you decide to go and sign up for something anyways.
Tasha Overmiller is a badass because she knows that she wants to better herself as a well-rounded athlete, and OCR is part of her plan to remain strong and balanced.
Meet Tiffany Palmer. She is a Varsity high school cheerleading coach who decided to challenge herself and sign up for her first OCR (the Norm Koch New Jersey Spartan Beast on April 30th, 2016). Like many of us, after just one race you become hooked, and since that first beast, Tiffany has gone after more and more big goals.
After her inspiring and emotional finish as the women's winner of Worlds Toughest Mudder (with 90 miles completed), Rea Kolbl has capped off her exciting OCR season. She has only been in the sport for the past 1.5 years, but has shown the with hard work, motivation and being active, you can accomplish anything you put your mind to.
