origins
Coast Mountain CrossFit Roots
In the heart of the Seymour mountains and off a winding highway near the sea, and over the span of ten years, a community was built. It was built on sweat droplets on pull-up bars, in-house competitions, births of new babies and back squat PRs. It subsisted through divorces and injuries and surgeries, it rallied and surged with love to support a diverse population of students and firefighters and moms and dreamers. The community was made of the same grit that is created in CrossFit gyms everyday: perservance, tenacity, heart. Of never, ever giving up.
When CrossFit North Vancouver shut its doors, a community mourned for what was lost. The high fives, the cheers of encouragement, the tears of frustration and the resolve to begin anew. The loss of barbells and a physical space was one thing: but the eradication of the essence of an unparalleled community was too much.
Two community pillars (and kickass athletes) Amanda Johner and Ian Banks could not shake the belief that this community was not done thriving,. That this community was worth saving: plotting for, scrimping for, planning for in impossible COVID odds. They began discussing the logistics of what it would take to not only re-ignite the community, but to add to it and build to it and create something even better. And for everyone who knows Amanda and Ian: only the two of them could pull this off. Ian, with his quiet calmness and completely badass row. Amanda, with her arm muscles and infectious smile. Both of them: conceptualizing, igniting, and executing: helping bring Coast Mountain CrossFit to life. Their inherent belief in the strength of community and the possibility of the impossible is what set an idea in motion and an impossible dream into reality for all of those who have yearned for their community of fellow giant-hearted badasses It’s how the brand new Coast Mountain CrossFit was brought to life.
(Note that neither Amanda nor Ian has anything to do with writing this. Their humble quiet is precisely the reason they are so beloved and a large part of the reason that Coast Mountain CrossFit is going to be one of the best in Canada.)