A YOUNG woman who got fit after joining a fitness group to loose weight has qualified for national and European obstacle course racing championships.

Becky Lockwood, 22, of Chelmsford, has joined a team of nine other women to represent Obstacle Race Magazine in various events around the country and abroad.

She said: "About four years ago I decided I wasn't happy with how I looked so I joined a local fitness group to lose weight and get fitter.

"As a result, I lost three stone and was bitten by the fitness bug.

"I wanted to up my game so I joined Mibootcamp where someone suggested I might like to take part in an obstacle race.

"As I have little fear and am quite daring I thought it would be fun do so I signed up for Nuclear Races and fell in love.

"I finished as the 12th female and started to look into obstacle course racing a bit more and soon I was signing up for more races."

Becky, a production engineering technician at e2v in Chelmsford, now hopes to qualify for the World Championships in Canada later this year.

She trains in bootcamps and at the Wild Forest Gym in Brentwood.

She said: "Obstacle course racing is such a fantastic thing to get into; I get to run through mud and puddles, climb ropes, swing across monkey bars and climb walls.

"It's just like being a kid again.

"Not only is it fun it's so rewarding too.

"Obstacles are not easy and you have to take time to train on them.

"When you finally nail it it's the best feeling ever and it gives you a great buzz and you want to do more and more.

She added: "I have made some fantastic friends through OCR and the community is just amazing, everyone is so friendly and supportive.

"It's completely changed my life and who I am."