From a backyard in Crace to 13 years strong: the CrossFit Canberra origin story

When a community member submitted the question "What's the CrossFit Canberra origin story?" to the podcast, we knew it was going to be a big one. This gym turns 13 this year — and the story behind it starts long before there was a gym, back when Pat was serving overseas and Brendan was still in Year 12 with a freshly broken collarbone.

It started with a phone call and a dream!

The idea for CrossFit Canberra was always a plan between brothers. Pat — Brendan's older brother and original co-founder — discovered CrossFit around 2010 while on military exchange in England. He started sending Brendan content, and not long after, Brendan got his first taste of the sport during a 10-day visit to Singleton. He nearly didn't survive it. He loved every second of it.

While Pat was serving in Afghanistan, the brothers started talking seriously about opening a gym. The first real planning meeting happened in a tiny rental house in Boorowa — Brendan, Pat, their parents, and Jim (yes, morning crew Jim) around a table in the front living room. They came up with a colour scheme, a business name, and a vision.

The original name? Brotherhood Strength & Conditioning. If you've ever trained on the weightlifting platforms or spotted the old wooden boxes around the gym, you might still see some of that BS&C branding on them.

Co-Founders Pat and Brendan

The Crace garage gym

CrossFit Canberra's first location was the back of a house at 1 Taplo Street, Crace. Classes were capped at six. The pull-up rig lived in the backyard — footings dug by hand, rapid-set concrete poured by two brothers figuring it all out on the fly. Wall balls happened around the side of the house, the only spot with enough height. Inside the garage: six barbells, Pendlay plates that are genuinely still in the gym today, and a couple of freestanding squat racks.

If you've ever complained about a cold rig on a winter morning — respectfully, you haven't experienced a frost rig in a backyard at 6am in Crace. 😂

It was humble. It was cold. And it was the foundation of everything.

OG CrossFit Canberra Crace Backyard Rig

Growing up: Fyshwick and beyond

Six months in, they outgrew the garage and signed their first commercial lease in Fyshwick. When they rolled up the door and got their first look inside, the previous tenants had left behind a jet ski, a car bumper, and a washing line — clothes still on it. They cleared it out and made it work.

Big Dreams and only half a gym worth of mats.

CrossFit Canberra North in Mitchell followed around 2015 — a proper commercial space because Crace was at capacity (again!), a growing coaching roster, and Pat now transitioning out of the Army and into the gym full-time. On paper, everything was working. Mitchell wasn't struggling. But after a trip to the US with Dave from Func Fitness and a sit-down with coach Tommy Hackenbruck — who was running three CrossFit gyms at the time — Brendan and Pat sat down and looked at what they were building with fresh eyes.

CrossFit Canberra North Was Born.

What they saw was a team spread too thin, rushing between two locations, having half-conversations with members, and slowly drifting from the thing that made CrossFit Canberra what it was. So they made the call: close Mitchell, bring everyone back to Fyshwick. One location, one culture, one community. Not a financial decision — a values one.

"When you're driving from one location to the next having half-conversations with people, you're not interacting with your community on the level you want to."

Proof that Lucy was an OG CrossFit Canberra Staple!

Why WE do it

After 13 years, the answer to that question hasn't changed. It's not the numbers. It's watching someone achieve something they never thought possible. It's being trusted with the personal stuff that goes way beyond fitness. It's the member who left ten years ago but you still know everything about when you run into them at the coast.

"We're just an hour of someone's day. As long as we're helping improve that — happy days."

CrossFit Canberra - CrossFit Open

This is Part 1. Next episode: Pat's exit from the business, the lessons that came from it, and the elephant in the room — COVID.

Listen now on your favourite podcast platform.