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Leading up to the Games, Crossfit Rotherham Finds a Home in Texas

August 1, 2023 by Maggie Weaver

Photo Credit:Courtesy of Ran Wells

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When CrossFitters Ran Wells and Jack James met on a ski holiday in British Columbia, Canada, three years ago, neither would have known that they would reconnect to help a team from CrossFit Rotherham in England headed to the 2023 NOBULL CrossFit Games.

The details: Wells, from Texas, is a skier, longtime CrossFitter, and husband to Katie Wells of well-known meal prep company RosieJo Meals. James, also a CrossFitter from the UK, works out at CrossFit Rotherham in England.

When the team from CrossFit Rotherham made the Games – overcoming a major athlete obstacle in the process – they started discussing the possibility of heading to the US early for a pre-Games, acclimate-to-the-weather training camp.

This is where the Wells come in: James, remembering Ran Wells from the ski trip, messaged Katie Wells on Instagram to discuss the possibility of the CrossFit Rotherham team coming to Texas to train pre-Games.

“We were on [the call] for 14 minutes,” Moritz Neumann, a member of the CrossFit Rotherham team, said, “And in that time, they offered us a place to stay, CrossFit gym facilities, a sauna, a swimming pool, and more.”

Ran and Katie Wells offered CrossFit Rotherham housing for the week pre-Games, use of their home affiliate, WellHouse CrossFit, and RosieJo Meals from their arrival through the Games weekend. The Wells also tapped into their community resources, setting the team up with local facilities including a pool, a second CrossFit gym, a local track, a session with their two friends and well-known coaches, Chad and Jodi Vaughn, and more.

“We were like, ‘What’s going on? Why are you being so nice?’” said Neumann. “They said, ‘This is what CrossFit is about. You’re coming all the way here and we want to give you this experience.’”

All the Wells wanted in return was for the CrossFit Rotherham team to pay it forward.

Neumann has already jumped on this request, taking on RosieJo Meals as a client at his email marketing company free of charge

The big picture: CrossFit has been a huge part of Katie and Ran Wells’ lives, from the development of RosieJo Meals, to directly impacting their family. (The couple met through CrossFit, and even before then, Ran Wells said he was RosieJo Meals’ “number one customer.”) Hosting CrossFit Rotherham was a way they could give back and help the community that has “blessed them and offered them so many opportunities.”

“We have people contact us all the time about feeding them. This isn’t what [this team] was doing. It’s a lot of money for them to come and do this… immediately, Ran and I wanted to help them,” Katie Wells said.

“[Hosting CrossFit Rotherham] was never a conversation. The conversation was ‘What’s first?’”

Ran Wells jokes that their main takeaway from the week spent with CrossFit Rotherham was, “It’s time to build a bigger gym.”

“Our great friends inside the CrossFit community came together to help us put together a fun and productive week,” he added. “It was a success and we wish the team all the best in Madison!”

CrossFit Rotherham has started a GoFundMe to help further defray costs for their trip to the Games.