Aidy Cartwright, the Fitness First General Manager at Rochdale is no stranger to seeing some of the best X Trainers in the country walk through his doors - in fact as is the case with X Training , those that train hardest are his best customers, so it's nice that Aidy puts something back at them to keep motivation peaked.

The 12 Days of Christmas X Training Challenge is one of the new events that has been designed to give members over the festive period added motivation to keep on top of things.

All the pictures are of the Dale Destroyer this year, which Aidy again designed and implemented in his gym to keep focus and motivation peaked.

How is the preperation going for the 12 Days ?

With less than a month to go to our new and challenging competition,

application forms continue to come in, just yesterday i have received 3 applications from Derbyshire for guys who missed the Dale Destroyer in August due to being out of the country but want to test themselves to this new competition

What sort of times are you looking at for this event?

Predicted times from some of our fitter members of Fitness First Rochdale have rarely shown a finish below 20 minutes.  Andy Lett and Jamie Frazer still have failed to break to the magical 20 minutes in the advanced.  Even in the Intermediate this time has only once been broken

What's different about this event to all the others?

Due to the length of course we have set a limit of 50 entries for this years competition. It's mainly internal, but a few X Trainers may well turn up.This new course that starts on the bike and has brought in 2 new disciplines that are new to Rochdale (curl and press and A stride jumps) which finishes on the treadmill and encompasses all elements of fitness from agility, strength, power, plyometrics and endurance.

How do you feel about being nominated for X Trainer of the year?

Having been nominated for X Trainer of the Year is a great honour and to be up against great fellow athletes such as Lordy and Trudi is truly humble.  Having only been introduced to Xtraining just 18 months ago by last years winner Andy Lett has made me and countless members at Fitness First more determined to compete in and hold future Xtraining competitions

Why do you create these challenges for your members?

Walking in to Fitness First on a daily basis and see people training for future comps makes me proud and continues to be a integral component of varied training within the gym and gives the sense of a real community at our gym.

How do you like the current platform of awareness to to the sport of X Training?

I would like to that Sean and the WorldGymChallenge for giving myself and countless others the platform to push Xtraining and fitness to people all over the country to try something new and challenge the way in which we train each day.  I think 2008 has been another great success in the world of Xtraining and the last 2 competitions of the year (Rochdale and Hampshire) will finish off the year in style.

If you wish to take part what should you do ?

Anybody wishing to compete in the 12 days of Xmas have until the 28th November to enter and we have just 30 entries left.  We have decided to lower the entry fee to just £10 and get into the spirit of `good will to all men` (and women...)! 

Entry Form - click here