Locally owned CrossFit gym opens in Mankato

MANKATO, Minn. (KEYC) - A new, locally-owned CrossFit gym opened its doors for the public today.

Gray Duck CrossFit sits on the corner of Adams and Star streets.

An open house celebrated the end of the gym’s construction.

Creating the gym has been a passion project for co-owners Joshua Ruiz and Danielle Senn.

Both owners have always wanted to own a CrossFit gym of their own, so they partnered up and started development in 2020.

Now, after one and a half years, Ruiz and Senn opened the gym with a goal for the community to find their second home.

“Come here- this needs to be your second home. I have met some of my best friends through CrossFit and I rely on them for a lot of things. If I wouldn’t have found CrossFit, I don’t know where I would be,” Gray Duck CrossFit co-owner Danielle Senn said.

The building was formerly the NOVA Academy of Cosmetology, and it was reconstructed to fulfill the requirements for a CrossFit facility.

The owners, friends, and family brought their sledgehammers and helped rebuild the space since February of this year.

“Now, there’s no walls and no more holes. It’s big and everyone can work out. And there’s so much space,” open house attendee Jocelyn Senn said.

Gray Duck CrossFit offers three free classes for anyone to check out the facility.

And anyone can sit in the mezzanine to watch the classes at any time.

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