Words & photography Markus Bidaux
After working in local government and the insurance industry for 20 years, Richard Dean started a family business with his parents, selling free-range pork. Within 10 years, the business was a multi-national, multi-million-pound company. But in 2011, on one of his sales trips, Richard chanced upon a CrossFit gym — and found he had a new passion. “I saw people doing amazing things and wondered if I could do something like that”, Richard says.
Then, when a friend was struggling with the business side of opening a CrossFit gym, Richard decided to leave the family business and joined the team, and in 2016, CrossFit Shapesmiths opened its doors under Clapham Junction station.