Michele Letendre

This regional marks the third year that we will be watching Michele Letendre and Camille Leblanc-Bazinet vie for one of the two coveted spots to the CrossFit Games. The two have been Canada East’s representatives for two years running, and have each taken a turn at the title of fittest woman in the region.

At the 2012 Regional, the women started the weekend two seconds apart after the first workout (“Diane”), and when the dust settled Michele had come out on top by only two points, with the nearest competitor almost 30 points behind. This year promises to be equally as nail-biting, although Michele isn’t focused on who is first or second, and she certainly isn’t ruling anybody else out. “To be 100% honest, I don’t think about Regionals as a rematch with Camille,” she explains. “We have a common goal to make it to the Games and having her there definitely makes it a very interesting competition.”

Interesting indeed! Michele and Camille were two of only five women in the world to break into the 9th minute of “Indefinite Fran” (Open WOD 13.5) and I, for one, am hoping some pull-ups come out of the hopper to give us a chance to watch these two women bust out the butterfly head to head.

Athlete:

Michèle Letendre
Age: 27
Affiliate: Abattoir CrossFit Plateau, Montreal QC
Best Benchmark WOD: Amanda, 4:28

Before CrossFit:

I played tons of sports but I started competing as a swimmer at the age of 9 then after 3 years I moved on to Water Polo for 6, playing national and internationally.

Who would you “face-off” against for a live Open WOD announcement? What would your ideal WOD look like?

I would definitely have chosen Annie Thorisdottir. I love her attitude and her competitive spirit and I also would love to see how I measure up to the best in the sport. My dream wod would be anything with pull-ups, muscle-ups and heavy overhead squats.

What is the absolute most horrible workout you can think of?

The worst workout I can think about is the Beach workout of the 2011 Reebok Crossfit Games. I’m a great swimmer so that wasn’t the issue; there was just so much running in freaking sand!! I wasn’t ready for that then but now, I’d love to do it again just to see how I’ve improved on my running!

Day job:

I am the manager of Abattoir Crossfit Plateau and I coach there as well. I also Coach at Deka Crossfit in Blainville, Quebec… Basically I do Crossfit for a living