From warped walls to flying bars to salmon ladders, Riley Banzer knows a thing or two about negotiating his way through a ninja-style obstacle course.
In November, the owner of Olympus Freerunning qualified for a spot at the National Ninja League Worlds, set for April in Greensboro, North Carolina.
But whether he will actually go is in doubt as the obstacles related to getting his business back onto a solid footing threaten to keep him at home.
Banzer, 27, launched Olympus Freerunning in September 2019 as a place for parkour enthusiasts to practice their skills in a safe, indoor setting. He also hosted bouts of Battle Bow - like paintball but with bows and arrows, without the pointy ends, of course.
But less than six months later, in March 2020, Banzer had to shut down as health officials grappled with how best to stem the flood into intensive care units of patients struck with COVID-19 .
Five months later, he was able to reopen at 1721 Nicholson St. But measuring about 1,500 square feet, it is about half the size of the original. He's had to put a significant portion of his equipment into storage and host smaller groups and classes.
"I didn't know how long I was going to be closed so I ended up taking a smaller unit and condensing all my equipment just to stay alive during that first set of lockdowns," he said. "And now that things have kind of sort of evened out, I'm still stuck in this tiny little space where I can't run my business at full capacity."
Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry has said restrictions will be gradually eased starting on the Family Day long weekend if all goes according to plan.
With some light emerging at the end of the pandemic tunnel, Banzer is now in search of of a spot three or four times larger and ideally with a higher ceiling.
Not only would it allow him to put all of his equipment, including the gear for Battle Bow, back into use but it would also give him the space to set up the apparatus to train for the NNL Worlds.
Banzer said his finances are so tight that he will likely miss the deadline for confirming that he will be going to this year's event, but there's always next year.
"I will have to take a bit more financial risk in hopes that I can get back up and running but I did the same thing when I first started," Banzer said. "It was no guarantee that people were going to come to my gym when I took on the bigger space, so I will just be repeating the cycle two years later."
