Gym hopes to lift prestigious award
Holyport: Red Beard Barbell Club recognised and commended
A weightlifting gym in Holyport is in the running for a prestigious national award celebrating fitness.
Red Beard Barbell Club has been shortlisted in the National Fitness Awards, the
UK’s biggest free-to-enter fitness awards.
The annual event recognises excellence and achievement in gyms throughout the country.
Red Beard Barbell Club offers strength training to all ages and abilities focusing on the sports of Olympic weightlifting, powerlifting and strongman.
It has a key drive of encouraging and supporting more women and children into these sports, to share the benefits that strength training has to offer.
The club has been shortlisted in the Strength Training Gym of the Year category of the National Fitness Awards.
Red Beard Barbell Club owner and head coach Charlie Knight said: “It feels great to be nominated, let alone shortlisted.
“There are some incredible strength gyms in the UK, so for my club to be put up there with them is incredibly humbling.
“I feel honoured that all of the hard work and dedication has been recognised.”
To win, participants will need to demonstrate what they have given to the community – and Red Beard is hoping both its grassroots work and community-focused work will help.
Last year, the gym raised £4,000 for John Radcliffe Hospital’s paediatric intensive care unit with a charity weightlifting event.
The members also got handson in stripping out an old playpark in Holyport so it could be revamped more cheaply for the community trust that owns it.
Charlie has also headed into schools to give children tasters of a different way to keep fit – for example, coving some PE lessons at Braywick Court school.
The gym has also supported GB Paralympic medallist Louise Sugden, who won bronze in Tokyo last year.
“It’s things that show your more that ‘just’ a strength gym – being present and reaching out to kids and getting more people involved,” said Charlie.
In each category of the awards, up to seven finalists have been selected, who will now go through to the next stage of the judging process.
Trophies will then be handed out at an awards ceremony hosted by Diane Youdale (Jet from Gladiators) on Friday, November 18 at The Athena in Leicester.
The awards are organised by Script Events in conjunction with fitness industry magazine Workout, with support from headline sponsor ServiceSport.