Whanganui CrossFit gym leaves franchise after founder's comments

Kane Hura and Jasmine Hepi from Nefarious Fitness and Performance are starting their own journey after the CrossFit CEO's recent comments online. Photo / Supplied

A Whanganui CrossFit gym has joined others around the world in ditching the global fitness brand following controversial comments made by its founder.

CrossFit Nefarious on Wilson St are now starting fresh under the name Nefarious Fitness and Performance.

Owners and partners Jasmine Hepi and Kane Hura are nervous about leaving the brand, but excited about starting a new journey with a fresh vision.

"In the process of creating a logo, a new vision, a new mission and something that encompasses us as well because we get to start with a clean slate," Hepi said.

CrossFit is a high-intensity interval training programme which has centres across the world, including New Zealand and Australia, which pay an annual fee to be an affiliate gym.

Over the weekend the fitness company's US-based CEO Craig Glassman sparked fury when he tweeted in response to a tweet by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation which said racism and discrimination were "critical public health issues".

"Floyd-19," Glassman wrote in response, referencing the killing of African-American man George Floyd, whose death in police custody has sparked the worldwide Black Lives Matter movement.

The gym will still function the same with similar workouts and methodology, just no longer under the worldwide CrossFit brand.

Instantly the pair knew they no longer wanted to be associated with it.

"Initially what sparked for me over the course of the last few weeks with the riots, it has changed my perspective on racism and how I could change and promote change," Hura said.

"It's just been a build-up. What happened over the weekend was the final straw for us. We can't do this, we are out," Hepi added.

For Hepi and Hura, the move means they can no longer legally use the word CrossFit.

"It's quite unfortunate we've been in CrossFit for six years now and it's pretty much what helped us grow," Hepi said.

"It's going to be difficult in the beginning because CrossFit was our identity. But now we are literally an independent small business in Whanganui.

"It's like we are taking our training wheels off ourselves."

Nervous about where they may be headed, the pair are nevertheless excited and optimistic about what they will be able to accomplish independently.

"I feel like we are going to be better off, I think this move for us is going to be good. It's just what it's going to look like in another five or six months with us no longer having that ability to attract people because of the CrossFit word.

"CrossFit is quite a big name globally and that's how we get our clientele and attract our business.

"It will be worth it because we can put it back into the gym and back into the community as well."

Nefarious Fitness and Performance hope the new name and vision will give them a wider reach and draw in people who were hesitant in the past.

"It opens us up to a wider spectrum of clients that we hope to reach so we aren't bound by the one-word CrossFit."