More Than a Gym: What We Celebrate at Empower

Maybe mine is not the most objective viewpoint, but I think there is nothing like Empower’s Annual Awards Gala anywhere in the CrossFit world.

If you’re looking for a full recap of what happened this year—the awards, the moments, the people—we’ve shared that here. But what matters as much to me is not just what happened, but what it says about who we are as a community.

Almost every gym participates in the Open; many gyms do some form of intramural competition (though few compare with ours), and we were not the first to start the 12-Days of X-Mas. But the Annual Awards Gala is our unique event, and it was born in 2015 from the desire to celebrate our amazing community members.

Not for their fastest times or heaviest lifts—but for the way they show up for each other.

Recognizing What Really Matters

Organizing the awards and hosting the event requires a significant investment of time and money, and it's worth it. Because once a year, it gives us the opportunity to showcase our accomplishments.

There are the 5-year T-shirts and the Legends Wall for our 10-year members—milestones that say more about who you are than what you can lift. There are the 500 and 1000 class attendance awards, and the big daddy of them all, the 2000 class keeper trophy—markers of a kind of long-term commitment that is increasingly rare.

There are the intramural team championship medals, earned during our in-house Open competition, where members come together in teams to support, compete, and push one another beyond what they thought possible.

And best of all are the Spirit of the Open nominations, when you, the members, tell us which Empower members best exemplified the spirit of our community—and why. It’s not a coach’s decision or a top-down award. It comes from you. Though only the person with the most nominations takes home a keeper plaque, just being nominated is a huge honour.

Photo credit: Rachel Nixon

The Moment It All Comes Together

As much time as it requires to organize, as much as it costs, on the day of, it always feels worthwhile to me. To me, it is the event that best distinguishes Empower’s unique community identity.

For eleven years, we have gathered to celebrate the spirit of our community, and this year was no different. It always leaves me with a warm glow of satisfaction. After I’ve said my piece and all the awards have been presented, I like to stand back and watch our members dressed in their gala best, mingle, laugh, and truly savour each other’s company.

And I think to myself, what an amazing thing we’ve built.

This is what happens when people don’t just work out together—they support each other, stick around, and build something over years, not weeks.

In that one brief moment, all the trials and tribulations of the year are behind me, and I feel that all the struggles, all the tears, all the challenges have been worth it. And that I am ready to take on another year, so long as at the end of whatever the next 12 months may bring, I get to celebrate it with you.

Photo credit: Alfred Hermida