"CrossFit changes you--and not just your perspectives on training, but in life, generally, as everyday tasks just become easy."
Known for its tailless Manx cat, three-legged flag and annual Tourist Trophy race, the Isle of Man is situated in the Irish Sea roughly halfway between Britain and Ireland. It has a population of less than 85,000 people, two of whom have opened the island’s first CrossFit box.
Once 24-year-old Erin Callister and 29-year-old Dan Bonett made the decision to open a box, they relocated from Liverpool to the Isle of Man within a few weeks. Callister’s family lives on the island.
Wanting to start on the right foot, the couple enrolled in a small-business course while searching for the right space to open an affiliate on the 221-square-mile island.
Bonett and Callister finally found the right location, spending four months preparing for the opening with a lot of help from Callister’s father, John “Dog” Callister.
“He is a joiner by trade and his work on the gym has been outstanding,” Bonett says. “We are so grateful to him that we named the gym’s benchmark WOD ‘John Dog’ in his honor.”
Bonett discovered CrossFit after being forced to give up playing rugby for Great Britain’s Fire Service Rugby League team because of injury. Bored of the globo gym, a friend suggested CrossFit 3D in Manchester.
“I immediately felt welcomed and already part of the community,” Bonett says. “I booked my on-ramp course straight away and have never looked back.”
He adds: “CrossFit changes you — and not just your perspectives on training, but in life, generally, as everyday tasks just become easy.”
It wasn’t long before Bonett’s passion for CrossFit infected Callister and the couple decided to pursue affiliation.
“Our decision to open a CrossFit box was based on our love of the sport and our desire to bring it to others and help to grow the CrossFit community. Karl and Rachel Steadman have been — and still are — a massive inspiration and their advice and guidance is greatly appreciated by us both,” Bonett says of the Reebok CrossFit 3D owners.
“Their passion and love of all things CrossFit has rubbed off on Erin and I, and we are both grateful that we were in a position to be able to do what we have.”
CrossFit Isle of Man, which goes by CrossFit IOM, opened Oct. 1 with 15 members. In addition to the workouts, the box offers clinics on mobility, injury prevention and performance enhancement via Callister, who has degrees in sports therapy and physiotherapy.
“This has been a huge journey for us and the response from the people on the island has been phenomenal,” Bonett says. “Who knows, we may be able to boast about a CrossFit champion from the Isle of Man in the not-too-distant future.”
