Meet the Team

Katie Robertson (Head Coach & Owner)

Katie became a Crossfit Coach in January 2017 following a career change driven by her desire to spend more time with her family, and yes, a little bit of extra time for Crossfit herself!

Katie has always enjoyed sports, from horse riding as a child, through to county level netball and lacrosse. In her adult life she enjoyed general gym fitness and even competed in a few triathlons and long distance runs.  She found Crossfit in 2012 and has loved the constant challenges it brings, from learning new skills, improving cardiovascular fitness levels to training with like minded people.

In the last 3 years she has competed regularly in the UK, winning multiple masters titles. In 2017 and 2018 she finished within the top 200 women in the 40-44 age category, her best finish in 2017 saw her 3rd in the UK and 94th in the world.

Katie loves sharing her passion for fitness and crossfit, she is an advocate for life long fitness and thrives on learning new skills herself as well as breaking them down to help others learn and achieve them. Katie never gives up and doesn’t believe in the Impossible!

Gary Harding (Coach & Owner)

Qualifications:
CrossFit Level 1 Trainer

Gary had a very strong sporting background as a youth, in both Football as part of Crystal Palace’s acadamy and in Judo.

This lead him to completing marathons across Nambia, Ironmans and eventually into CrossFit when he joined CFT with his wife Jacqui in 2013. Since then they have both been avid members with Gary progressing to become a coach after passing his CrossFit Level 1 and also going on to compete in many CrossFit competitions.

Steve Devine (Coach)

Qualifications:

Having spent over 13 years in emergency services I understand what it’s like for diet and exercise not to be at the forefront of anyone’s list of priorities. My optimal diet was occasionally not what’s best, but what’s open?? As for shift work, well anyone who’s had jet lag can understand what that’s like.

Who am I and why should you listen to anything I have to say? Well I’m now in my forties and I’m not going to lie, keeping in shape doesn’t get any easier but from this perspective I know what works and what is going to keep you injury free whilst progressing. This in all honesty is the simple secret to success in the gym.

Currently I’m studying a degree in Psychology which keeps me busy when I’m not training clients and it comes in handy when I’m trying to convince people that they’re capable of much more than they thought.

I also have a young son whom I see alternate weekends and I do all of this work and study stuff so that I get to get to spend some quality time with him stuffing my face with Pizza and Ice-Cream (Paleo Pizza and Protein Shake Ice Cream of course)!

Alan Price (Coach)

Alan has been passionate about sport and fitness his whole life. He played golf professionally for 8 years before pursuing a career in the fitness industry.
He was introduced to Crossfit back in 2010 and has coached it for over 10 years. Having coached multiple disciplines, his main area of expertise is in weightlifting and movement/rehabilitation.
He is also a qualified golf fitness/movement coach specialising in enhancing performance and injury prevention.

Grace Saych  (Coach)

Alice Richardson (Coach)

Alice’s Profile

Xander Brice (Coach)

I found CrossFit in 2017 and was immediately hooked! I have always loved sport and the community around it. I played rugby from a young age, I am a passionate open-water swimmer and I love picking up heavy objects. I enjoy pushing my body to do new things it couldn’t do before, which led me to CrossFit.

I regularly compete in competitions around the UK and have even been lucky enough to stand on a couple of podiums, something I hope to continue doing in the future.

I am always keen to help budding athletes, and I feel great pride in seeing them progress along their fitness journeys, and I look forward to meeting you and helping you on yours!

Sam Fenton (Coach)

Sam’s Profile

Bo Petkova (Coach)

I started as a semi professional basketball player and from there I moved into weightlifting, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and finally CrossFit.

My college studies helped me understand not only about the sport industry but also focused on analysing sport performance, diet, biomechanics of the human body, and much more.

In 2021 I tried CrossFit for the first time as I wanted to improve my gymnastics and overall fitness as I was regularly competing in BJJ, without suspecting how fast this would turn into my lifestyle.
It’s been nearly 2 years and I am constantly training my weakness and trying to improve and I love it.

I have always tried to help people improve and this is what drove me to want to instruct. I have a coaching background in various sports but so far nothing has been as fulfilling as helping people at different fitness levels improve their skills and conditioning.

CrossFit helped me meet so many lovely people which I am proud to call friends and form a life lasting relationships, which one of them has turned out to be my best friend.

So, whatever your reasons are, just come in the gym and without doubt you will be welcomed with a warmth approach.

I love having fun while instructing or training. I will always try and smile (except when I am in my pain cave trying to push through a WOD) but even then, I will still try and have fun.

Emma St John (Coach)

Emma St John

I’ve been enjoying CrossFit on and off for 7 years. It has massively improved my overall fitness and I use the training to complement my other passions of swimming and running. I love the variety with CrossFit and also the amazing community. I coach the tots, kids, teens and adults throughout the week. It’s great to see so many people improving, both physically and mentally, and their passion for keeping fit ever growing. I hope to see you at a class soon!

Joel St John (Owner, Back of House & Social Media Team)

Before starting CrossFit 10 years ago, I would turn my nose up going to the gym. I’ve always loved many sports but thought going to the gym pre-2010 to me was essentially a vanity project. Whilst this may be true on some levels, this is not what CrossFit is about.

Immediately I was hooked after my first Workout Of the Day (WOD). It fast became the best hour of my day, diffusing the stresses of work, and I naturally formed a healthy new circle of close friends. On top of this, it led onto partaking in national CrossFit and Olympic Weightlifting competitions.  One of the best parts about the sport is the variety and constantly varied movements. It’s hard to get bored – there’s always something to learn or improve.

I’ve been fortunate to visit 50+ CrossFit Boxes in the UK, Europe, Canada, America, all the way to SE Asia – each with their own flavour- which has been amazing.

Watching our own ecosystem of CrossFit Tonbridge change and grow over the last 10 years has been very exciting and interesting. Being involved in the takeover of CFT in 2019, and opening of CrossFit TAG in 2020, has been a total joy. Seeing our 200+ members get the physical, mental and social benefits that I did 10 years ago is really gratifying, and I am very thankful to be part of the new ownership.

At the back end we are constantly improving the Club, so are very much looking forward to the next 10 years.

Alex Clarke (Owner)

I am a self confessed CrossFit addict who enjoys taking on challenges of all kinds. For 3 years running I competed at the CrossFit Games European Regionals and in 2012 I was the highest placing UK based athlete  placing 11th in Europe. I have also had other successes with top 10 placings in Central Europe Throwdown, the European Inferno (pairs comp with Dellus West), Dirty Dozen Races Sept 2014 race + 2013 Back yard Jam and  as part of a team in the 2013 UK’s Toughest Gym, with 2 of these being podium finishes.

Not only have I had successes in my own competitions, many of my members/athletes have also had great success. I trained a 15 year old novice to a 6 time U18 world record holder in Power Lifting, programmed for international level CrossFitter’s competing in competitions such as The Athlete games and qualifying to the second stages of the CrossFit Games. I’ve also trained an England’s/Britain’s Strongest Man finalist and South East record holder in powerlifting. On top of this CFT’s weightlifiting team won our League in our first season and many of my CFT athletes have achieve podium place finishes in local competitions and races.