| How long have you been involved in X Training ? |
I took part in my first X-Training completion in the summer of 1992 in Worcester. I organized numerous competitions at the One on One chain of 5 gyms between 1998 and 2003. The first major event that I commentated at, was the Tropicana in Birmingham in 2000.
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| The sport of X Training is developing into the gyms – how do you see the future ? |
I tend to agree with Hywel (Hywel Davies - current unbeaten X Training Champion) on this one, X-Training incorporates other events like Rowathlons, Duathlons etc etc.
I think maybe we need to look at things in the broader spectrum. Fitness Competitions will continue to grow indoors and outdoors and I believe there will be increasing crossover between Duathlons/Rowathlons/Triathlons and what we sometimes call X-Training competitions.
It really surprises me that more so-called X-Trainers don’t take part in Will’s (www.dbmax.co.uk) fantastic series of events during the Summer.
I believe that there will only be more people taking part in gym competitions through the class format, which I have always found to be very successful in recruiting new victims and through the efforts of the Grand Prix organizers, Kirk,  Lloyd Millichip etc who are prepared to put the work and effort in to support and help newcomers.
The work that you are also doing is also crucial in offering so much information, fantastic coverage of all the events and a determination to see the “sport” grow. |
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| Since the meeting at your house – what progress do you see? |
| I’ll get the negatives out of the way first! There appeared to be huge progress in what was discussed and agreed at the meeting. That was quickly and totally undermined by the UKXTA's decision to renege on what was agreed, simply because they didn’t like how the rankings worked out. They didn’t even have the decency to speak to anyone before they did it and I haven’t come across anyone who shares any empathy with what they did. They are only interested in their event , which is fine , but they shouldn’t have wasted our time at the meeting which could have been invaluable in doing more work on the Grand Prix.
The positives were the fantastic spirit and co-operation between the competition organizers and the determination to make it a success, both for Gary, who came up with such a fantastic product and the competitors, who were crying out for this.
The events have attracted greater numbers than ever and we never anticipated such a fantastic number of Grand Prix entrants. The enthusiasm level has never been higher and the rankings have attracted so much interest.
The organizers have certainly produced top quality events.
There is more work to be done, particularly on rules and regulations before next year, but I think we can be proud of what we have achieved |
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| The discovery of Sam Orgee has had quite an impact on the X Training scene – how did you persuade him to try X Training ? |
Sam started training at my gym a year or so ago and was a training partner of Phil Rawle. I had known Phil for a while and he used to attend a lot my circuit classes. Both were exceptional rugby players, but Phil had suffered knee problems and following three operations wasn’t sure whether he could risk continuing playing. Sam saw some of the stuff I was doing in the gym and it was one of those situations where we got chatting about it and he tried a few routines and you could see straight away the guy was something special.
I pulled off the Gorton course for him and he tried it a few times in training and quoted his times(and I thought yeh right!)
I arranged to meet him on a Saturday morning for a properly judged time and when I stopped the watch my eyes nearly popped out, when his time was close to Micky White’s winning time the previous year. He was 15 seconds quicker and a few weeks later slaughtered the field at Gorton. He was hooked and I think it’s fantastic the way Hywel has welcomed and supported his arrival. He is such a down to earth and unassuming bloke and I am convinced we have discovered a great ambassador for the sport. He and Sam Saunt are such great news in these exciting times. |
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| Tell us about what has happened at your local gym (flood) and how it has affected you and your training ? |
I have trained at Life of leisure(previously One on One) since it opened in January 1993. Recently,
I got the distinct impression that things weren’t right and kept expecting the place to be boarded up. Ironically Chris (my partner) and I joined Cannons on the Wednesday before the Gauntlet , just to give it a try. On the Monday, we had torrential rain and the ceiling in the main gym floor caved in and it was closed. About a week later, it was splashed all over the local paper, that it had gone into administration.
Luckily my training hasn’t been affected, other than adjusting from Technogym to Life Fitness equipment.
Sam and Phil had a guest pass from me there on Saturday as the floods prevented them using their replacement gym in Malvern. It would be nice if they move there, but I don’t think they fancy the prices!! |
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| You have been critical of certain events in the past and full of praise for others - what makes a good event? |
For me a good event needs the following ingredients:
a. Venue
b. Good Organisation e.g. Registration, timekeeping, presentations, judging
c. competitors who really want to be there.
d. A challenging course
e. atmosphere( I agree with Hywel-it’s the key ingredient)
If you are referring to the UKXTA's event , don’t get me wrong it’s a fantastic concept and attracts some great competitors. However, based on the two years that I had commentated at it, the judging was appalling, it was disorganized and there was no atmosphere whatsoever. I tried constructively and very privately to influence some changes with Jacqui, but obviously hit the wrong note! The men’s event this year looks an absolute corker, so I hope it goes well. |
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| How did you devise the Ironman event? |
I had watched the original Ironman a few times in the early days, but realised that if there was going to be an increase in participation, the course had to change to make it more achieveable by more competitors. I was always dreaming up different courses when I worked at One on One and I just think you need to be a little bit inventive and take real consideration of what equipment is available. Being able to use a venue like Dragons was also a major bonus and I’ll be eternally grateful to Mel Brooke for that. |
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| Not many people from the armed services , police or prison services take part in the Indoor Ironman – why do you think this is ? |
The Armed Forces is greatly diminished in size these days and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan take up a huge amount of resource.
The Police and Prison Services have their share of fat, lazy, overweight and unfit people. The bleep test level for entry into the Prison service is 5.4, barely above a walk and we still have people failing it!! It would be good to see more participants from these categories - espeacially the Armed Services. I wonder how the Marines would cope with the Paras on my Ironman course? ....!
The best competitors have been PTI’s like Steve Quick and Mark Elliot and I think it’s in that area where we might recruit, although I’ve failed miserably at HMP Blakenhurst! |
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| A recent Scottish event – reduced weights but kept the reps the same for the older competitors a sort of handicap ( personally I thought this was a good idea) Do you agree ? |
 This might certainly help, although it would be a bit of an insult to Gary Nicholls! We should certainly discuss it within the Grand Prix group and maybe try it at one or two events |
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| How do you see expansion into the gyms progressing? |
I’m sorry but I don’t see it progressing at all into any major gym chain, although it might happen in the odd Fitness First or Cannons etc if you are lucky enough to find a supportive manager and a Gary Nicholas/Kirk Gibbons to develop it.
I personally would like to see us achieving 500 active participants by the end of 2009. We also need a couple more top competitions, particularly something like an X-Zone or Super Teams to help with the exposure. We will then need to find bigger venues and probably people who have more time to take over the running of these events-that could be an interesting problem! |
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| You are now in the veterans category - would you like to see more people in this category |
| I would definitely like to see at least 15-20 competing at each event . That may have to wait until a few of the masters reach 49 as unfortunately we lost some valuable participants after a certain well known publication pulled the plug and there was a bit of a downturn. |
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