The Ultimate Gym Athlete 2014

The World Gym Challenge took place at Rochdale's Pure Gym on the 26th July. The challenge which was developed in 2006 is now the longest running unchanged Gym Challenge. Any gym that registers can sign up to the database and complete the challenge at their gym, but in 2014 the Wattbike was introduced to accommodate the various different bike outputs and difference results.

The Wattbike provided by Eddie Fletcher www.fletchersportsscience.co.uk

Eddie Fletcher from www.fletchersportscience.co.uk provided the Wattbike for the day and united for the first in the World Gym Challenge a bike that is probably the best performance stationary bike in the world today.

The first races ...

The Gym Athletes arrived in the early hours of the day to support friends who were racing early. Special arrangements had been made so the first three races could accommodate the fact that after they had finished they were off to the airport on their holidays . Sarah Finnerty, Kimberley Dearden and Kossar Jabeen all from Link 4Life Gym in Rochdale started the ball to roll.

Kossar took the challenge on having been introduced to the sport from local teacher Sarah Finnerty who herself only recently discovered the sport of Gym X Training and has been performing and climbing up the Advanced leader boards in recent events.

Bringing The World Gym Challenge to everybody is something that creates a good bonding at gyms and in real terms creates a training camp which allows members of the same gym to race each other no matter what level of fitness , so Sarah (Advanced) raced Kimberley (Intermediate) with a two minute delay. It was friends racing and as all three finished and looked forward to their holiday in the sun - they knew as the first turn of the pedals on the Wattbike to the last step on the treadmill, it has been solid training all the way that had got them to what they had just completed and they all took away a sense of achievement which can only be experienced by those who take part.

The longest journey ever to compete in an event

I have been talking with Robert Gottlieb from New York for a number of years. He always expressed an interest in Gym X Training and was a reader of Ultra FIT right back to the days of when Charles Mays was Editor, so he was well aware of the history of Gym X Training. The person he was to race against was local Gym Athlete Ben Porter from Lnk4Life a good few years his junior, and Robert who was basically still on New York time zones rolled up sleeve and cracked on supported literally every step of the way by those who had turned up.

It was a journey that started in New York some years previous in reality and it ended with a rousing cheer and the equivalent of a standing ovation by all who were there including Ben , the person he had been racing.

First timers and new members

There is a degree of nerves before you take to the course as a new member of World Gym Challenge. This is a race that you cannot get lost in a crowd and enjoy the herd aspect of a group excursion, where being part of fun day out. No this is very much you in the spotlight. And very much how much have you been training in the gym?

Eleanor Reader took a very comfortable victory in the Novice Event , making her time of 7:53 acceptable to move on to Intermediate racing. Suzanne Fraser nerves were evident in the lead up , but husband Jamie had been there in training and on the day to help her through. It turned out that Suzanne ran the fastest 3% run (800m) and shows great potential to deal with Gym X Training.

Edite Lase from Pure Gym Rochdale and Jayne Salford from Link4Life Rochdale were not racing against each other, but if they were would probably have been race of the day. With exact finish times, if these girls ever enter another event it will be the perfect match.

Exciting prospect for the future is Nicola Ainsworth, who won the Ladies Intermediate event. There burns a passion with Nicola, with constant blogs on social media and a a real zest to keep taking part in future events. As a Firefighter and dealing with shift patterns when she can make it, will play a slight hindrance. But I would keep a look out for Nicola and I'm sure she will rise in the ranking over the next few years to Advanced levels.

The Link4Life Crew came down to this event as it was based near where they train as a group and they have a passion for X training. They will continue to be training together and pushing each other along Amy Greenwood and Karen Stone who will be making good progress with the ladies here as there is evidence that a lot of their fitness levels are around the same making ideal progression levels. Their next event is a first for Rochdale Leisure Centre as they are hosting their first challenge on the 26th October.