Fifteen years ago, Chad and Ashley Baird were eight months into building CrossFit Zion when their lives changed.
They had five children, all 12 or younger, a new affiliate that had quickly become central to their family, and a growing community around them. Then Ashley was diagnosed with stage 4 metastatic breast cancer.
“We were devastated,” Chad said. “We were terrified for her, terrified for our kids, and immediately started thinking about what life might look like without her in it.”
What happened next would ultimately shape not only their family and affiliate, but a nonprofit that now brings together athletes, volunteers, businesses, and supporters across Southern Utah.
A Community Steps Up
As Ashley began treatment, CrossFit Zion’s members went to work.
They organized fundraisers and meal trains. They helped care for the Bairds’ children, arranged house cleaning, and kept the gym running when Chad and Ashley needed to focus elsewhere.
But support didn’t always look the way Ashley expected.
Chad continued coaching his early-morning classes on the Fridays Ashley received chemotherapy. At first, she resented it. She was home preparing five children for school while bracing herself physically and emotionally for treatment.
Over time, however, Ashley began to understand what the affiliate was providing her husband — she realized that Chad needed support, too.
“The person supporting someone through cancer is in a really difficult position,” Ashley said. “They love you, they want to fix it, and they can’t. They can’t take away the pain. They can’t sit in the chemo chair for you. They can’t make the diagnosis disappear. They can only stand beside you and try to hold everything together while feeling pretty helpless themselves.”
“[The gym] gave Chad a little bit of normalcy when everything else in our life felt like it was falling apart,” she added. “It gave him a place to work through his anger, fear, and frustration.”
Fridays became “Fight Fridays.” Members arrived at the gym wearing pink in support of Ashley and her family. What had initially been Chad’s outlet became a source of strength for all of them.
“Eventually, his gym family became my gym family, too,” Ashley said.
Battle of the Breasts is Born
Years later, in 2020, a group of women from CrossFit Zion saw an advertisement for a Girls Gone RX competition in Las Vegas and decided to compete in Ashley’s honor under the team name “Bad Ash.”
Then the idea grew.
Around 35 women from the affiliate made the trip.
“Thirty-five women gave up a weekend of their time just to show up,” Ashley said.
Watching them brought her back to those difficult Fridays during treatment, when the CrossFit Zion community had rallied around her family. Years later, they were still showing up.
On the way home, the Bairds began talking about creating an event of their own. That idea became Battle of the Breasts.
“The name ‘Battle of the Breasts’ came pretty naturally,” Ashley said. “Cancer had been a battle that demanded everything from me. A CrossFit competition is obviously a very different kind of battle, but it gave our community a way to come together, work hard, and rally behind women who were facing something far greater than any workout.”
Today, Battle of the Breasts is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit built around a CrossFit competition, but the Bairds say the competition is only part of its purpose. Money raised stays in Southern Utah and goes directly to women actively fighting breast cancer and their families.
Last year, the event raised approximately $60,000 for four women.
For one recipient, that money might help cover medical bills. For another, it could mean groceries, childcare, travel to treatment, missed income, or simply keeping up with everyday expenses while navigating cancer.
“Having gone through it with Ashley, I know the financial stress is only one piece of it,” Chad said. “Cancer affects the entire household. Kids still need rides, meals still need to be made, bills still show up, and parents are trying to hold everything together while carrying a fear that is hard to even describe.
“We can’t take the diagnosis away,” he added, “but we can help ease some of that weight.”
Bigger Than the Competition Floor
Battle of the Breasts takes months to produce. Volunteers secure sponsors and raffle items, assemble swag bags, manage logistics, move equipment, judge workouts, check in athletes, and clean up afterward. Local businesses donate money, products, and services. Others contribute simply by attending, buying a shirt, sharing a social post, or cheering.
“The competition itself is probably only a quarter of what Battle of the Breasts really is,” Ashley said.
That distinction matters because Battle of the Breasts is ultimately about recreating something the Bairds experienced themselves: the feeling of looking around during one of the hardest periods of your life and realizing an entire community is standing beside you.
On Oct. 10, 2026, Battle of the Breasts will return on its largest scale yet. The event is moving into a nearly 60,000-square-foot venue, with a goal of hosting 48 teams and raising $100,000.
But as the event grows, the Bairds are determined not to lose what made it meaningful in the first place.
“We want every team to know who they’re competing for,” they said. “We want our recipients to feel the people around them, hear them cheering, and understand that the money being raised is going directly to help them and their families.”
There is also a place for everyone. Compete. Judge. Volunteer. Sponsor. Donate. Cheer.
Finding Your People
Fifteen years after Ashley’s diagnosis, Battle of the Breasts has become an example of what can grow from the relationships formed inside an affiliate.
People may initially walk into CrossFit Zion because they want to get stronger or healthier. Eventually, Chad said, they learn one another’s names. They notice when someone doesn’t show up. They celebrate PRs.
And when something goes wrong outside the gym, those relationships can take on an entirely different meaning.
“The workouts may be what bring people together in the beginning,” Chad said, “but what they do for one another is the part that reaches far beyond the walls of the gym.”
Ashley’s story of survivorship is one of inspiration, advocacy, and what it looks like when a community steps up. For their family, the legacy behind Battle of the Breasts — and the lesson they hope to pass along to every woman it supports — is when life gets hard, you shouldn’t have to fight alone.