Hellroaring Crossfit gives new life to bank building

The old First Citizens Bank building in downtown Columbia Falls has new purpose.

After sitting vacant for an extended period of time, the building is the new home of Hellroaring Crossfit, which opened its doors in the location Nov. 6.

According to owners Gabe Murphy and Sarah Murphey, the move to the new location was the logical next step for their business.

“We just had a sense about this building. We stared at it and we stared at it some more. We really felt that this is where we needed to be,” Murphey said. “There just are not a lot of buildings in Columbia Falls that would meet our needs. There is very little commercial space and this building fit our needs perfectly. This building has so much character. It’s just quirky. People come in all the time to tell us how glad they are that the building is being used and they tell us stories about when it was a bank.”

“Quirky” might be the right word to describe Hellroaring’s new home, as the building still includes three working vaults, concrete reinforced floors and a tunnel from the basement to the parking lot, but that uniqueness may have already led to more business for the couple.

“We’ve already had more walk-ins here in the first two weeks than we did in the last eight months at our old location,” Murphy said. “A lot of it is from pure curiosity, but we definitely have seen an attendance increase since moving into this building.”

While a lot of work has already been done to get the building ready for its November opening, the couple say there is still a lot more to go, including adding additional changing rooms and showers.

“Our budget is what is restricting us at the moment. Our hope is to have everything we want done to the building completed within a year,” Murphy said.

While the changes and upgrades to the building are not yet completed, the pair say their customers are enjoying their spacious new workout area.

“In our old location, our 5:15 a.m. class was our biggest class. Yes, we have a lot of crazy people, but we are crazy people too. We had a class of eight to sixteen16 people in a space half the size of what we have now. I think all off the members of that class are jazzed about our new location,” Murphy said.

“I think, overall, people love what we have been able to do here. We have added some equipment, which is really nice. We added equipment that we didn’t have space for before. Having a variety of equipment helps us give everyone the individualized workout that they are looking for,” Murphey added.

The two say that crossfit is a great way to get in shape, but getting started can be tough. They admit that even they had their reservations about it at first.

“I got tricked into it. I always said I would never crossfit. I said it was too hard, too intense and I wasn’t that crazy. I thought there was no way I could ever survive it. A friend talked me into going to a “group class” that turned out to be crossfit,” Murphey said. “You do the first one, and it is super hard. But, it sparks something in you that makes you want to do better and makes you want to do it again. It’s very empowering. You come in thinking that you can’t do it. After it is over, you think that it was really hard, but you survived. It gives you the mentality that you can do some of the things that you didn’t think you could.”

As for Gabe, crossfit was a way for him to stay in shape during the summer months when he played football in college.

“I am a glutton for punishment. I played small-school college football and I was looking for a hard way to work out. During the summers, I was training alone, but I truly believe that misery loves company, so that led me to crossfit,” he said.

No matter their reasons for getting into crossfit, the pair say they are enjoying their new location and hope the athletes of Columbia Falls will, too.

“We knew people that were wanting to get more out of their workout than was currently available in Columbia Falls, so we saw the opportunity to open up our business. Columbia Falls is growing and improving, and it is great to be a part of that,” Murphey said.