Within the sphere that is the CrossFit community, finding athletes of all ages who are driven by competition is not all that difficult.

That constant pursuit of personal bests is woven into the very fabric of many of these folks.

Andrea Larsen, however, is not that person.

Yet it is the soft-spoken retired educator who will make her way to Tempe (AZ) from December 7th to the 10th, site of the Legends Championship competition after the native of Ottawa (born in Sarnia, but raised in the nation’s capital) qualified in the 60-64 RX category.

“I never wanted to compete,” admitted the widow of long-time Sudbury football presence John Larsen, the true “athlete of the family”, according to his wife, having played with the Queen’s Golden Gaels and Sudbury Spartans for several years. “Even now, I didn’t think this would happen like this.”

It’s been a journey, to be sure, albeit one that truthfully found its genesis well into adulthood and beyond.

The middle of three children, Andrea was certainly active in her youth, competing in high-school sports and the like and spending time around the pools as a swim instructor and life guard. She and John would meet at Queen’s, her degree in Fine Arts giving way to Teachers College and a short stint out west before settling down locally with younger-aged primary classrooms at Wembley Public and Copper Cliff Public Schools.

With both of their children away at university – Christian (now 31) at Waterloo and then the University of Toronto for a masters; Allison (now 29 and an alum of the Nipissing University Lakers volleyball program) – and John travelling State-side for work with regularity, Andrea sensed a void that needed to be filled.

“It was my time to take care of myself and do something that I needed to do – which I knew was fitness at that point,” she said. Encouraged my fellow teacher and CrossFit aficionado Megan Bischoff, Larsen would take a leap of faith – one which required some patience early on.

“I struggled,” she acknowledged with a smile. “The pregnant ladies were doing a lot more sit-ups than I could. It was hard to go in and hard to work through. You have to put your pride aside and show up and just keep showing up and you eventually start to feel good.”

“That’s huge. It’s good for your mental health, for everything.”

While the pursuit of better fitness was a given, the specifics of CrossFit were anything but.

“I didn’t really know anything about it, to be honest,” said Larsen. “Strength (workouts) were probably the easiest, but still not that easy. It’s Olympic weightlifting, so a lot of technique – but I never thought I would ever want to move a barbell.”

Thankfully, her drive came more from the belief that commitment was key, with little to no regards for any kind of competitive outlet as a bi-product.

“I committed to three times a week (workouts), just to see where it goes – and when three times a week felt reasonable, I added another time – always with weekends off,” she explained.

And for as much as Larsen stressed that she is not driven by competition, the reality of this world is that it is highly numbers based, even if the only attention to those stats is linked to self-improvement. No surprise that she would find a way to dip her toe in those waters, relatively stress free.

“I started to do the Open (on line worldwide workout competitions), just for fun,” she noted, harkening back to the year 2016 or so. “That’s easy. You do the workouts at your gym and someone scores you. But every year, I started to move higher on the (worldwide) leaderboard.”

“That was exciting.”

Sadly, three years later, John would be diagnosed with cancer, the disease taking him far too early from this world in July of 2021.

More than ever, Andrea Larsen would lean upon her CrossFit Sudbury family, the likes of Kristin Green and Adam Ball and fellow competitors and coaches Tara Thall and Mandie Duguay. “It kept me strong and steady in the gym: the focus, the people, just working out and relieving the stress,” Larsen emphasized.

One does not need to be measured against a peer group in order to sense the pride of physical development.

“You’re getting older, but you’re improving, which is interesting,” said Larsen with a gentle laugh. “With CrossFit, you’re always learning new things, able to do a bit more, as long as you’re consistent in your training.”

This voyage will enjoy another port of call in a month or so as Larsen attends the event in Tempe, complete with two a day workouts and a swimming component now mixed in. With her daughter and local CrossFit owners (Green and Ball) on hand as support, she is trying to take it all in stride.

“This is a big opportunity which might never come again. It would be worse to decline it. You need to step outside your comfort zone, go and enjoy yourself and do the best that you can.”

Even if a Legends competition was the furthest thing from the end goal for Andrea Larsen a decade ago.