Pictured (left to right) are the judges of the Northern Ireland Health and Fitness Awards, leading personal trainer, Ian Young; health and fitness blogger, Aly Harte; Sunday Life editor, Martin Breen; Centra Ambassador and leading Northern Ireland nutritionist, Jane McClenaghan and former Ulster, Ireland and British Lions rugby star Stephen Ferris.

TWO businesses from Bangor and a local gym member have been shortlisted for Northern Ireland’s first ever Health and Fitness Awards sponsored by Centra.

Causeway Living has been shortlisted in the Community Engagement category sponsored by Pure Gym and Elysium Gym is in the running for Small/Single Site Gym of the Year sponsored by Mervyn Stewart Ltd. Also among the local finalists is Leanne Patton who made the shortlist for Gym Member of the Year sponsored by Crowne Plaza Belfast.

Over 200 entries were received and independently judged by a highly experienced panel from the health and fitness industry made up of former Ulster, Ireland and British Lions rugby star Stephen Ferris, Centra Ambassador and leading Northern Ireland nutritionist Jane McClenaghan, leading personal trainer Ian Young, fitness blogger Aly Harte and Sunday Life Editor Martin Breen.

The awards comprise of 15 categories to recognise the outstanding achievements of the local health and fitness industry including Gym of the Year, Personal Trainer of the Year, Best Corporate Wellness Programme, Retailer of the Year and Healthy Food Outlet of the Year.

Speaking on behalf of the judges, Stephen Ferris said: “I am delighted to be on the judging panel for the inaugural Health and Fitness Awards sponsored by Centra. I think it’s about time this industry was recognised for all of its hard work, dedication and the role it plays in helping people live a healthier lifestyle. My fellow judges and I were so impressed by the standard of entries and it was a very hard job to shortlist all of the categories. We were blown away with the stories we read about what individuals, companies and charities are doing across Northern Ireland and the calibre was very high so all the entrants should be proud of the work they are doing.”

Sarah Weir, Director of Weir Events and Creator of the Health & Fitness Awards said: These awards have been created to recognise and celebrate Northern Ireland’s growing health and fitness industry. We are overwhelmed with the amount of entries we received for the inaugural year from right across Northern Ireland ranging from individuals to large corporate organisations. We have a strong panel of independent judges who collectively have over 50 years of experience between them in the health and fitness industry and they had a very hard job of selecting the finalists. Congratulations to all of the finalists and we look forward to celebrating your successes and that of the local health and fitness industry on Saturday 22nd September.”

Winners will be announced at a prestigious ceremony hosted by former Emmerdale actress, Strictly Come Dancing star and health and fitness enthusiast, Gemma Atkinson and Q Radio’s Ninja Warrior Ibe Sesay on Saturday September 22 in the Crowne Plaza Belfast.

Individual category sponsors include PureGym, Linwoods Health Foods, Gym Co, Tony & Jen’s, Cathedral Eye Clinic, BPerfect Cosmetics, Crowne Plaza Belfast, Saville Audio Visual and Mervyn Stewart Cars.

To purchase tickets for the Health and Fitness Awards contact sarah@weirevents.co.uk