GROWING A FITNESS COMMUNITY

Also Part Of The Local Fitness Community Is

CROSSFIT RAID (309 Camer Drive #6, Bensalem), owned and operated by Justin Rementer ’11. Rementer began the process of opening CrossFit Raid in 2013, just two years after graduating from Holy Family with a degree in Management-Marketing.

A few years earlier, he had become a member of a CrossFit gym – a popular fitness program focusing on high-intensity functional movements. “I’ve always been a gym rat, so I got hooked on the training part of it,” recalls Rementer. “I really have a passion for helping people – even at Holy Family’s gym I would train a few of my friends on the soccer team – and I eventually decided to open my own gym.”

His classes in the Management-Marketing program served as helpful starting points for when Rementer began the process of opening CrossFit Raid. He remembers, “Actively running the business taught me a lot about business, but there were many things I was able to pull from my undergraduate education to get myself going, like writing the business plans and sales forecasts.”

After a successful launch, Rementer faced a significant challenge just after his first year in business – he had to move the gym from its original location in Northeast Philadelphia to its current location in Bensalem. He had 60 days to find a new location for CrossFit Raid. “We ended up able to open our doors in the new location on the fifty-seventh day,” he explains. “At the time, that was quite the challenge and a very stressful time in my life!”

The Bensalem location is a larger facility than the original location, which has allowed CrossFit Raid more room to grow. Since opening the business as a sole proprietor, Rementer brought on a partner who originally started as a member of the gym. “I was lucky that I had someone who was already involved in the gym that wanted to get involved in the business end as well,” he says. “It helped take some of the load off my shoulders and allowed me to delegate some of the responsibilities.”

The gym has grown to feature more than a halfdozen coaches and operates seven days a week, with classes Monday through Saturday and open gym on Sundays. Regarding what his business offers the Northeast Philadelphia and Bucks County communities, Rementer says, “CrossFit Raid gives people the opportunity to improve their health and fitness. It’s a communal place where people can come and develop relationships. We also do charity fundraisers to give back to the community.”

Dana Russikoff ’92, owner of SureShade.