From crawling through a pool of ice water to scaling walls to traversing teeter totters, it’s fair to say that participants in the annual Woman2Warrior charity obstacle race are put through the wringer.
But as difficult as the five-kilometre race is, it’s also a lot of fun, explains Colwood’s Morgan Rozon, who will compete in her second Woman2Warrior event on Aug. 28 at West Shore Parks and Recreation.
“It’s a really amazing event and I think that everybody should try and get involved with it if they can,” she said. “It’s just a really, really fun time to get involved with a bunch of very inspirational women.”
Rozon participated in last year’s event, which attracted 175 participants and raised $50,000 in support of Easter Seals.
Funds raised help send more than 800 children and young adults with disabilities to adventure camps at one of three accessible Easter Seals camps in B.C., including one on Shawnigan Lake.
Woman2Warrior racers are required to complete 12 top-secret obstacles on their way through the course, testing their strength, agility, determination and endurance. They are entered in teams and compete against each other to get through the extensive course, although Rozon says the competition is very friendly in nature.
“I feel like everybody’s definitely trying to push themselves a little bit, but everyone’s really cheering for the other teams, and you’re not trying to race past in front of them,” Rozon said. “The camaraderie between everybody was really cool.”
On Sunday Rozon will compete with a team of fellow cross-fitters, as was the case last year. This time they’ll be dressed in hot pink and bright green and be known as the “CrossFit Chicks,” complete with a chicken crossfitter logo.
“Everyone’s costumes were hilarious [last year] … it made it a lot more fun and entertaining,” she said.
As of Aug. 19, Rozon was the second-leading fundraiser for the Victoria race, having brought in $1,025. She’s managed to do that through online donations and bottle drives, and Woman2Warrior provides its competitors with a variety of different fundraising ideas.
“It’s a $300 minimum and it can be a little intimidating for some people to have to raise that much, but they give you a lot of tools to be able to do it,” Rozon said.
For more information on the event, log on to victoria.woman2warrior.ca.
joel.tansey@goldstreamgazette.com