THERE COMES A time when being ‘fit enough’ just won’t cut it any more, and you need a challenge to keep you interested and motivated. A contest even.
Luckily for you, Enable Ireland have just the thing.
Next month, nine venues across Ireland will host regional heats of the No Limits Gym Challenge and competition is set to be fierce.
The Gym Challenge will consist of four-person teams trying to rack up as much distance as they can across four exercise apparatus. Each team member will be required to give it their all for 10 minutes on four machines — treadmill, rowing machine, bike and cross-trainer — with just two minutes room for rest in between.
“It’s proven to be something that people really like getting involved in,” says Enable Ireland’s Aghna Hennigan having seen a localised version of the event thrive in Kilkenny last year.
“We got really great local competition going on between the army team and the Gardai team, the local GAA team and the local rugby team. And it just seemed to be an event that people were really excited about.”
“We also have an accessible category for people with disabilities. And the choice of equipment is a hand pedal or foot pedal, or they can enter the regular categories if they’re up for it.”
Last year’s event was organised by handballing legend Michael ‘Ducksy’ Walsh and Hennigan is hopeful of adding more local celebrities to the list of participants. Former Ireland international footballer Damien Duff helped to launch the event and Olympic silver-medallist Kenneth Egan is set to take part in the Dublin heat on September 13.
Along with Dublin and Kilkenny, heats will take place in Kerry, Limerick, Galway, Mayo, Meath, Wicklow and Kildare (full details of locations and dates can be found here).
Hennigan adds: “We’ve had a lot of interest and the registration is starting to pick up — we’re hoping to get at least 20-30 teams in each heat this year and maybe expand it next year to an individual category and things like that if it works out.”
The teams with the top distance to their name from each heat will advance to a Gym Challenge All-Ireland Final in Dublin’s City West on October 19 – a month after the Gaelic football equivalent has its own climax.
Chip in
The important thing that teams should remember when entering (by setting up a MyCharity page) is that the registration will not be complete until you have raised €200 – either by traditional fundraising means or by chipping in €50 per member.
So with only so much gym and training time to go around, be sure to get signed up and get practising your row, run, cycle and cross-training sooner rather than later.
