Leisure Centres in County Durham are counting down the days to Christmas with an advent-themed fitness competition. Throughout December, gym users will be able to open a door on each centre’s advent calendar to reveal an exercise challenge. Participants could find themselves holding a plank position for as long as possible, doing 60 sit-ups in a minute, swimming lengths of the pool, burning 250 calories on the rowing machine or climbing 1,000 steps on the stepper.
Everyone who completes 15 challenges will be entered into a prize draw to win a smoothiemaker. The contest follows a successful Euro-inspired competition earlier this year, which saw nine leisure centre members win £50 in shopping vouchers. Kirk Walker, the Council physical activities coordinator, said: “During the past year, we have introduced a number of competitions and challenges for gym users and they’ve had a great response. “The daily challenges in our advent-themed event should add some fun and spontaneity to members’ work-outs, push them to improve their current levels of fitness and encourage them to add new exercises to their fitness programmes.”
The leisure centres participating in the challenge include Newton Aycliffe, and Shildon-Sunnydale. This month, new members can also take advantage of three months free membership if they pay for 12 months in advance. This means they will receive 15 months membership for the price of 12. And from Friday, 16th December, anyone wishing to pay by direct debit can join their local leisure centre for just £10 and pay nothing more until February 2017. Find out more about leisure centre offers, by visiting www.durham.gov.uk/ leisureoffers
