By Nigel Maxwell

Darchuk ready to take on the world

May 29, 2015 | 7:46 AM

Prince Albert’s Whitney Darchuk says it’s her dream to compete at the CrossFit Games in California.

To accomplish that, she will have to finish in the Top 5 this weekend at the Western Regionals in Tacoma, Washington. After 5 events, she sits in 10th place with two events left today. 

She is competing against some of the best athletes from the western United States and western Canada. 

“I’ve worked really hard this year, I’ve put a lot of time into it inside the gym and with my lifestyle outside the gym with 100 per cent focus on this goal,” said Darchuk.

This event marks the third time Darchuk has competed at the regionals. She qualified for the event after finishing sixth in the women’s division for the Canada-West region during the CrossFit Open competition last month.

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Qualifying for the regionals was a bit tougher this year. Canada-West and the Northwest Regions were combined, and only the Top 20 from each region were invited to Tacoma. Last year, the Top 48 were invited.

In addition to her strength and endurance, Darchuk has also been working hard on her mental approach.

“In the past I have always believed in myself but there’s always a part of you that’s a little bit scared and nervous and I’ve just worked on that a little more this year, with my coach helping me as well,” she said.

Darchuk said she is always inspired by competition but draws a lot of strength from her father.  Ben Darchuk passed away in May 2012. 

“Achieving my big goal is not only for myself and everyone around me who supports me but to this day I still want to do it for my dad because he was the Number 1 who was behind me when I first started,” said Darchuk.

In addition to her intense training schedule, Darchuk is also the head coach at SaskPro CrossFit in Prince Albert.  It’s a position she takes a lot of pride in. In the week prior to Darchuk leaving for the competition, the club members purchased training shirts that read “Team Whitney”.

“I am always very humbled at how much support I have from everyone back at the gym, so by all means I want to come back and make everyone proud and thank them,” she said.

Darchuk said she is a firm believer that if you put the hard work in, dreams can come true.

The western regional competition runs Friday through Sunday.  The Top 5 from the men’s and women’s divisions advance to the CrossFit Games, taking place in July in California.

Prince Albert’s James Kapacila has already qualified for the games after finishing seventh in the world in the teen division during the open competition last month.

nmaxwell@panow.com

On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell