January’s Extraordinary Athlete is Kate Cruickshank, who is also last month’s athlete’s (Michele Rodgers’) best workout buddy. Kate came to us through the Hyer Elementary School mom connection.

Kate is originally from Australia and came to us for a month in May, but was back in Australia for the entire summer. While she was gone she walked 18 miles every day with her husband, but managed to damage a nerve in her toe doing so. When she got back she couldn’t wait to start back up at CrossFit, but we had that injured toe to deal with. She really didn’t want to let that get in her wayso we went after it! We were very careful scaling her moves so as not to make it worse and over time it has bothered her less and less and she is doing more and more.

In September Kate even entered the Adult/Child Throwdown with her son, Ben, who also loves to CrossFit. In October she entered the October Fitness Challenge along with her buddy, Michele. She worked really hard and lost 3 inches all over her body. She is also the one who convinced Michele to give up the diet sodas, which helped her immensely! She is all about getting involved and making friends and having a great time. She is supportive of everyone at the gym and she is great at leading by example. Way to go Kate! You are doing a great job!!