A health and wellbeing hub that offers more than 100 exercise classes to help communities stay active and live healthier lives has received national recognition.
Active North Yorkshire Harrogate has been crowned Group Exercise Gym of the Year at the National Fitness Awards, which recognises excellence and achievement across the leisure and fitness industries.
Thousands of residents use the Active North Yorkshire Harrogate site each month, which has a state-of-the-art gym with more than 100 fitness classes and sessions available for customers of all abilities, ages and goals.
Active North Yorkshire Harrogate was held up as best in class nationally by industry experts, chosen from a shortlist by a judging panel which included fitness entrepreneur Katie Bulmer-Cooke and fitness expert Dean Hodgkin.
North Yorkshire Council’s executive member for leisure, Cllr Simon Myers, said:
“It is great to be recognised in this way and I would like to congratulate everyone who works both at our Harrogate site and across our entire leisure portfolio for this fantastic success.
“We launched Active North Yorkshire last year with the aim of creating first-class health and wellbeing hubs across the county that consistently support our communities to be more active and live healthier lives.
“I am pleased that this award rightly recognises the high-quality leisure provision we currently have in Harrogate, which provides residents with a fantastic opportunity to improve their physical and mental health and wellbeing.
He added:
“We want everyone in North Yorkshire to have access to the best facilities possible, wherever they live. That’s why we have committed to investing nearly £40 million across a number of our Active North Yorkshire sites over the coming years.
“This will see a wide range of improvements across many of our sites, including improved fitness facilities, upgraded gym equipment, as well as an overhaul of swimming pools along with better changing rooms.
“This is a significant statement that reinforces our commitment to transforming our leisure and wellbeing provision across the county, and we will continue to do all we can – working closely with healthcare professionals and other local services – to support residents.”
North Yorkshire Council launched its new sport and active wellbeing service, Active North Yorkshire, in September last year with a focus on improving health and wellbeing through supporting more people to be physically active.
A number of leisure centres have since moved under the Active North Yorkshire banner including in Harrogate, Selby, Tadcaster, Knaresborough and Ripon.
Harrogate - along with other Active North Yorkshire sites across the county - offers a wide range of fitness classes and sessions, including specialist schemes that support adults with limiting health conditions.
They include a number of Les Mills workout sessions, as well as bespoke classes that improve strength and conditioning, mental and physical wellbeing, and mobility.
The Harrogate site also offers a 25-metre swimming pool for customers, along with sauna and steam room facilities.
The variety of sessions on offer which support customers of every age and fitness level, as well as the site’s dynamic timetables and supportive community, were all praised by judges when crowning the site as winner of the Group Exercise Gym of the Year.
The director of the National Fitness Awards, Dominic Musgrave, paid tribute to Active North Yorkshire Harrogate and all those nominated at the awards ceremony, which was held at The Athena in Leicester on Friday, November 28.
He said:
"This year’s winners should be very proud – the high standard of entries made it a tough job to select a final shortlist never mind a winner and runner-up in each category.
“Our awards’ night was a great celebration of the fitness industry as a whole and it was great to see so many gyms represented at the event. It was a wonderful evening and it was lovely to share in the celebrations of the winners.”
More information about the Active North Yorkshire hubs is available at North Yorkshire Council’s website by visiting www.northyorks.gov.uk/active.
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