Brantford’s Anytime Fitness teamed up with Cambridge Ontario Provincial Police for a First Responders Day event on Saturday, October 24, 2026.
Passersby were drawn to the activity outside the King George Road gym, where they had the opportunity to ask questions and learn more about Auxiliary and uniform recruitment with the OPP.
Auxiliary Staff Sergeant Chris Johnston of the Cambridge OPP Highway Safety Division said the event offered an opportunity to connect with the community, promote OPP programs and highlight the importance of physical fitness in policing.
“We’re here to showcase the OPP through the Auxiliary and Cadet programs, and engage with the public,” he said. “The Auxiliary program is a volunteer organization through the OPP; we’re committed to 16 hours a month, and this part of our commitment to give back to the community. We’ve partnered with Anytime Fitness because it’s very important for us at the OPP to be physically fit, so we figured we would work with a local company and showcase opportunities within our organization.”
Johnston continued, saying, “We’ve got about five Auxiliary members and two cadets here with us today, four cruisers on display, as well as lots of swag and giveaways like stickers, tattoos and K9 trading cards, too. We’re also doing a ‘Fill a Cruiser’ for the Brantford Food Bank. With food insecurity on the rise, we want to make sure we’re giving back, so we’re accepting donations of both food and cash for that.”
Monica Skyler, personal training manager for both Brantford Anytime Fitness locations, said the event also offered a chance to connect with current and potential gym members who may be considering a career in policing.
“It’s a great opportunity for people to get to know local first responders and show why having a healthy and active lifestyle is an important thing to maintain,” she said. “We have a lot of gym members who are interested in getting into policing. I actually have a client who just got hired with Waterloo Police, and we spent some time training for her shuttle run and made pretty good progress. So, we have some fitness challenges set up outside here today, and hopefully we get some people who are interested in joining the OPP, in for memberships so we can make sure that they’re set for their prep test and shuttle run.”
During the event, visitors could test their fitness, and balance, alongside Auxiliary members by trying out the battle ropes, row machine, kettle bells and the BOSU ball. While some were happy to give the fitness challenge a whirl, others took the opportunity to get a closer look at the cruisers or chat about recruitment.
Overall, both Johnston and Skyler said they were happy to host the event and engage with locals.
“It’s really exciting for us. Anytime Fitness is a coaching club, so personal training is a really huge focus for us. We’re an ‘every body’ type of gym, no matter what your goal is, but there’s a lot of people with very specific goals who don’t know where to go because they don’t realize there are trainers who specialize in them,” said Skyler. “Something that I’ve been trying to focus on is getting into a more niche clientele, such as people looking for personal training to prepare for policing. So it’s really really nice to have this partnership and be able to do this outreach, and let people know that we can help you get to where you want to be, and connect them with these opportunities.”
Johnston added, “We always like getting to build relationships and engage with the community, especially the little ones who want to jump in the cruisers, so events like these are a good opportunity to do that. We’re on the main thoroughfare through Brantford here, we’ve probably tallied about 50 people here so far, and it’s just a beautiful day to showcase what the OPP is all about.”
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
