Succession remains one of the most pressing challenges facing the agricultural sector and rural communities, often framed as a choice between taking over the family farm or walking away from it entirely.
However, for some, the path forward lies in redefining what succession can look like.
In Bunclody, Co Wexford, Geoff Chapman chose not to follow the traditional route, but instead build his own legacy by opening the FarmYard CrossFit in 2022.
Based on his family’s farm, the gym has over 180 members – some of whom travel up to 45 minutes, five days a week to train – and it thrives on offering a ‘third space’ for those living and working in rural Ireland.
People talk about a third space – places like gyms, libraries, clubs, and cafés which give individuals a sense of place. For Geoff, he wanted to create this environment at the FarmYard CrossFit.
“You have your house, you have your work, and then the third space is where you go, which shouldn’t cause you any stress. It’s a place where people can train, relax and leave the outside world behind them. I think the third space is essential for people’s mental health,” he says.
Growing up, Geoff played rugby and had a passion for fitness. He moved to Dublin for college and played with Clontarf before suffering a bad injury.
“I went over on my ankle really badly and tore through six ligaments. I recovered, rehabbed, and I went to go back to play again, but I just didn’t want to anymore. I was about 115 kilos, but then you’re up against 140/150 kilo men – it was always going to get rougher as you get older,” says Geoff.
FarmYard Crossfit in Bunclody, Co Wexford, is owner and trainer Geoff Chapman.
Developing a love for fitness
Geoff found a CrossFit gym and started coaching there while studying business and marketing at Maynooth University. He became a Level 1 CrossFit coach, after completing a two-day training seminar.
“You go through the levels,” he explains, “progressing to level two gets tougher, and tougher again at level three. There are a lot of other elements you need to consider, such as nutrition courses on the side.
“To become a good coach, you really have to go after it. I was lucky enough that the first facility I was in, CrossFit West Dublin, had two owners, and they were big into development,” he says.
Hoping to open his own gym, Geoff had been in the process of renting a unit, but the plan fell through. Whenever he needs guidance, he turns to his father, Ken Chapman, who has always been his trusted source of advice.
“The idea [for FarmYard CrossFit] came from my father. The lease didn’t work out on the unit, and I was down in the dumps. He has really been the driving force.
“He encouraged me to pick myself up and find something else. Then he suggested I use the old building down there. I thought he was mad,” he says with a smile.
The building – which has now been expanded and transformed into a state-of-the-art gym – was, at the time, a dilapidated hayshed.
“It was used for heifers as an off-farm site for hay and storing beans. When we went to do it up, it was in bits. It took us a good month just to clean the whole place out,” he says.
The construction was done in phases as Geoff didn’t want to take out big loans.
The idea [for FarmYard CrossFit] came from my father. The lease didn’t work out on the unit, and I was down in the dumps. He has really been the driving force
“The hardest part was it wasn’t like a jigsaw puzzle – where you look at the front of a box and think, that fits there. Nowhere fitted anywhere; everything had to be custom-made. The walls needed steel frames installed behind them, but I tackled the work piece by piece, avoiding the need for a large loan,” Geoff explains.
It took six months before Geoff opened the gym to clients.
“When I opened, there was a lot of throwing things at a board and hoping something sticks. It’s not like a commercial gym; it is harder to get people in as it is a more expensive price point, but you are building a community,” he explains.
From left: Janet Tyner from Shillelagh, Catherine Heffernan from Marshalstown and Sophie Tyner from Shillelagh who use the gym.
Successful succession
Geoff credits his father for convincing him to come back to the farm in ‘a very good way’, instead of feeling forced into farming full-time.
“He was a full-time dairy farmer, and he got sick a few years ago. He continued farming full-time while he was sick, and it was just kind of getting worse. He stepped away from farming, and I was lucky that he really didn’t put any pressure on me to farm,” says Geoff.
“I don’t want to farm. It’s just not in me. I feel like there are people out there who don’t want to farm, but the generational pressure can be quite severe,” he says.
Geoff didn’t take a wage out of the business for three years; every time there was spare money, he did up different sections of the gym. Now the farm is leased out, and Geoff owns half of it. He stays out of the farmer’s way and is happy because he is doing ‘what he wants to do’.
“We have two full-time workers. My aim was to replicate the milk cheque my father was getting. My dad could get one full-time aide from the farm relief service. I thought if I could get one full-time staff that would be great. Now we have two full-time coaches and five part-time coaches. I just facilitate what goes on,” he explains.
The gym offers CrossFit, Hyrox, strength and conditioning and over-55s strength-only classes. It also runs Hyrox simulation events throughout the year.
“Initially, it was just CrossFit, and we had to apply to the affiliation with names. FarmYard CrossFit stuck, but we are rebranding as the FarmYard because that’s what people now call it,” he explains.
Reflecting on the farm, Geoff says, “I am so happy that I get to be part of what is a multi-generational thing, while not doing what I am not built for. My grandad, Billy Rothwell, lives here too, and he loves it. If you went out in the middle of the day, he’s over the fence, counting the cars coming in and doing the figures. Dad is out there too.”
It was important for Geoff to create a community where people feel they belong.
Janet Tyner, joined the gym after some encouragement from her daughter Sophie, who returned home three years ago to go into partnership with her parents on their beef, sheep and tillage farm.
Gym users at FarmYard Crossfit.
“I was reared on a farm and then married into a farm that’s 25 minutes away,” says Janet.
My daughter Sophie encouraged me to come to the classes. I would generally be fit as I am walking every day, but there is more to fitness as you get older; you should keep your muscles strong, and you do that by lifting weights in the gym.
“The first day I came, I was creeping in just hoping I didn’t make a fool of myself, but it’s a lovely crowd. I train with the over-55s, and there are seven regulars.
“We do some weights and a Workout Of the Day (WOD), and it’s good fun. It helps to broaden your social circle – intially I didn’t know anyone in the gym, but they are all my age, and we come in and have a chat before and after the class.”
Sophie is also working full-time with Grassland Agro and was determined to find a local CrossFit gym when she returned home.
“It is important to get away from the farm, it’s an hour where you can focus on yourself and give yourself time both mentally and physically,” explains Sophie.
Succession remains one of the most pressing challenges facing the agricultural sector and rural communities, often framed as a choice between taking over the family farm or walking away from it entirely.
However, for some, the path forward lies in redefining what succession can look like.
In Bunclody, Co Wexford, Geoff Chapman chose not to follow the traditional route, but instead build his own legacy by opening the FarmYard CrossFit in 2022.
Based on his family’s farm, the gym has over 180 members – some of whom travel up to 45 minutes, five days a week to train – and it thrives on offering a ‘third space’ for those living and working in rural Ireland.
People talk about a third space – places like gyms, libraries, clubs, and cafés which give individuals a sense of place. For Geoff, he wanted to create this environment at the FarmYard CrossFit.
“You have your house, you have your work, and then the third space is where you go, which shouldn’t cause you any stress. It’s a place where people can train, relax and leave the outside world behind them. I think the third space is essential for people’s mental health,” he says.
Growing up, Geoff played rugby and had a passion for fitness. He moved to Dublin for college and played with Clontarf before suffering a bad injury.
“I went over on my ankle really badly and tore through six ligaments. I recovered, rehabbed, and I went to go back to play again, but I just didn’t want to anymore. I was about 115 kilos, but then you’re up against 140/150 kilo men – it was always going to get rougher as you get older,” says Geoff.
FarmYard Crossfit in Bunclody, Co Wexford, is owner and trainer Geoff Chapman.
Developing a love for fitness
Geoff found a CrossFit gym and started coaching there while studying business and marketing at Maynooth University. He became a Level 1 CrossFit coach, after completing a two-day training seminar.
“You go through the levels,” he explains, “progressing to level two gets tougher, and tougher again at level three. There are a lot of other elements you need to consider, such as nutrition courses on the side.
“To become a good coach, you really have to go after it. I was lucky enough that the first facility I was in, CrossFit West Dublin, had two owners, and they were big into development,” he says.
Hoping to open his own gym, Geoff had been in the process of renting a unit, but the plan fell through. Whenever he needs guidance, he turns to his father, Ken Chapman, who has always been his trusted source of advice.
“The idea [for FarmYard CrossFit] came from my father. The lease didn’t work out on the unit, and I was down in the dumps. He has really been the driving force.
“He encouraged me to pick myself up and find something else. Then he suggested I use the old building down there. I thought he was mad,” he says with a smile.
The building – which has now been expanded and transformed into a state-of-the-art gym – was, at the time, a dilapidated hayshed.
“It was used for heifers as an off-farm site for hay and storing beans. When we went to do it up, it was in bits. It took us a good month just to clean the whole place out,” he says.
The construction was done in phases as Geoff didn’t want to take out big loans.
The idea [for FarmYard CrossFit] came from my father. The lease didn’t work out on the unit, and I was down in the dumps. He has really been the driving force
“The hardest part was it wasn’t like a jigsaw puzzle – where you look at the front of a box and think, that fits there. Nowhere fitted anywhere; everything had to be custom-made. The walls needed steel frames installed behind them, but I tackled the work piece by piece, avoiding the need for a large loan,” Geoff explains.
It took six months before Geoff opened the gym to clients.
“When I opened, there was a lot of throwing things at a board and hoping something sticks. It’s not like a commercial gym; it is harder to get people in as it is a more expensive price point, but you are building a community,” he explains.
From left: Janet Tyner from Shillelagh, Catherine Heffernan from Marshalstown and Sophie Tyner from Shillelagh who use the gym.
Successful succession
Geoff credits his father for convincing him to come back to the farm in ‘a very good way’, instead of feeling forced into farming full-time.
“He was a full-time dairy farmer, and he got sick a few years ago. He continued farming full-time while he was sick, and it was just kind of getting worse. He stepped away from farming, and I was lucky that he really didn’t put any pressure on me to farm,” says Geoff.
“I don’t want to farm. It’s just not in me. I feel like there are people out there who don’t want to farm, but the generational pressure can be quite severe,” he says.
Geoff didn’t take a wage out of the business for three years; every time there was spare money, he did up different sections of the gym. Now the farm is leased out, and Geoff owns half of it. He stays out of the farmer’s way and is happy because he is doing ‘what he wants to do’.
“We have two full-time workers. My aim was to replicate the milk cheque my father was getting. My dad could get one full-time aide from the farm relief service. I thought if I could get one full-time staff that would be great. Now we have two full-time coaches and five part-time coaches. I just facilitate what goes on,” he explains.
The gym offers CrossFit, Hyrox, strength and conditioning and over-55s strength-only classes. It also runs Hyrox simulation events throughout the year.
“Initially, it was just CrossFit, and we had to apply to the affiliation with names. FarmYard CrossFit stuck, but we are rebranding as the FarmYard because that’s what people now call it,” he explains.
Reflecting on the farm, Geoff says, “I am so happy that I get to be part of what is a multi-generational thing, while not doing what I am not built for. My grandad, Billy Rothwell, lives here too, and he loves it. If you went out in the middle of the day, he’s over the fence, counting the cars coming in and doing the figures. Dad is out there too.”
It was important for Geoff to create a community where people feel they belong.
Janet Tyner, joined the gym after some encouragement from her daughter Sophie, who returned home three years ago to go into partnership with her parents on their beef, sheep and tillage farm.
Gym users at FarmYard Crossfit.
“I was reared on a farm and then married into a farm that’s 25 minutes away,” says Janet.
My daughter Sophie encouraged me to come to the classes. I would generally be fit as I am walking every day, but there is more to fitness as you get older; you should keep your muscles strong, and you do that by lifting weights in the gym.
“The first day I came, I was creeping in just hoping I didn’t make a fool of myself, but it’s a lovely crowd. I train with the over-55s, and there are seven regulars.
“We do some weights and a Workout Of the Day (WOD), and it’s good fun. It helps to broaden your social circle – intially I didn’t know anyone in the gym, but they are all my age, and we come in and have a chat before and after the class.”
Sophie is also working full-time with Grassland Agro and was determined to find a local CrossFit gym when she returned home.
“It is important to get away from the farm, it’s an hour where you can focus on yourself and give yourself time both mentally and physically,” explains Sophie.
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