Webster, Atkins capture World’s Toughest Mudder title

Written By Jake Courtepatte

A pair of Caledon super-athletes are at the top of the OCR world after finishing first in a grueling 24-hour race in Atlanta Georgia last week.

Lindsay Webster and Ryan Atkins, half of the aptly-named team “Lindsay's Angels”, captured the top prize in the team division of the World's Toughest Mudder, an obstacle course race designed to test only the elite OCR athletes.

“Slick mud, sub-freezing temps, thick wetsuits, and icy obstacles pretty much sum up this race, but I still had a blast,” said Webster, who took the crown of Spartan Champion at the Spartan World Championship just over a month ago. “That is, after I climbed back in to my frozen ice block of a wetsuit and went out for more laps.”

Self-proclaimed the “most extreme, insane, imposing, pulse-pounding, heart-stopping 24-hour obstacle course challenge on the planet”, the World's Toughest Mudder pits athletes against a five-mile circuit race peppered with 25 of the course's toughest obstacles, with the crown going to the team completing the most laps.

Lindsay's Angels, who also comprised of top racers Ryan Woods and Brian Gowiski, managed to thrown down eighty laps: thirty more than their closest competitors.

“Our team had to run the first lap together, and then were allowed to take turns running in groups of two,” said Webster. “We swapped out every lap, which soon turned in to turns of double laps once frozen wetsuits became involved.”

It was around 3:30a.m. that Lindsay's Angels became sure of their impending victory in a few hours.

“We realized we had a solid lead over the second place team and opted for a few hours of dry clothing, warmth, and rest in our team tent before all four of us headed out for our final lap at 7a.m.,” said Webster. “We crossed the finish line around 9am to take the win for the four-man team race category.”

Besides splitting a top prize of a cool $10,000, the Caledon native said she “embraced the suck and the mental grit this race involved,” and she was “impressed” by how many were able to stay out the full 24-hours.

Webster would like to thank her “pit crew” for “spoon-feeding me, untying my muddy shoes when my fingers were too frozen to do it myself, and helping me in and out of slimy frozen wetsuits and getting soaked when you yourselves were also frozen to the bone.”

The 29-year old Webster was one of close to 1,700 athletes to take part in the event, where temperatures dipped below zero overnight.