"I very rarely take a rest day. I always do something, whether it's going for a mountain bike ride or heading up a ski hill."
The Krumme Family
Sometimes the fiercest competition comes not from the established front-runner, but from the dark horse you know least about.
With less than a year of formal CrossFit training, Ray Krumme is coming into the Canada West Regional ranked 4tth overall in the region.
Krumme’s athletic roots are in football. He was a varsity level receiver for the University of Western Ontario Mustangs in the late ‘90s. After graduating, Krumme moved to British Columbia to study dentistry and take advantage of the West Coast’s outdoor fitness lifestyle activities. “I really wanted to get involved in all the outdoor sports that are here, so I got into snowboarding, downhill mountain biking, dirt biking – that was my predominant fitness for the last 10 years,” Krumme says. “Not much gym training really.”
He got his first CrossFit training sessions in a friend’s garage in Squamish, where he currently lives. It wasn’t until last summer that Krumme really took to the sport. During a visit with family in Boerne, Texas, a family friend and owner of Hill Country CrossFit Brent Currie, introduced Krumme to SealFit. “It’s the equivalent of maybe doing three WODs. I really liked it and had the idea that might want to compete in CrossFit,” he explains. “When I came back, I decided I needed to work on my weaknesses, because I had a lot. Last spring, I couldn’t even overhead squat the bar, based on mobility. I didn’t even really know what a double-under was.”
Since last fall, Krumme has traveled a long road in a short time. He trains at Whistler CrossFit with Steve Howell about twice a week. Most of his workouts happen at home though – sometimes at 5:30 a.m. before his kids are awake, or after 9 p.m. after they’ve gone to bed. “I very rarely take a rest day, even if I feel like my body needs one,” he says. “I always do something, whether it's going for a mountain bike ride or heading up the ski hill.”
Krumme says he registered for the Open with a goal, but didn’t realize his own potential. In Open Workout 12.1, Krumme completed 135 burpees, a 3rd place finish in Canada West. “I realized at that point that I could compete,” he says.
In Workout 12.2, Krumme hit 83 reps. “Definitely not my strong point, but I was able to put in the 8th best score in Western Canada,” he says.
Workouts 12.3 and 12.4 weren’t his best performances, finishing in 17th and 30th, respectively, but he came back strong in 12.5 with 136 reps and a 4th place finish.
Having met is goal – qualifying for Regionals, finishing in 4th place in the region – Krumme is now aiming for the CrossFit Games. “I know it’s going to be really difficult and there’s lots of amazing athletes,” he says. “I think it’s going to be tough because I’m so new to the sport and there’s still so much left for me to learn. I’m just going to give it my best shot. All I can do is give it my best.”
Outside of his workouts, Krumme applies the same dedication to his family and his dental patients.
Regardless of what his workout scores are or how fast he has rising in the ranks, Krumme says he would not have achieved anything were it not for his biggest influences and supporters – his wife, four kids, coaches Howell and Currie and God.
