The Beach Leisure Centre has been shortlisted for a prestigious fitness industry award, beating off strong competition to make the finals.

The Sport Aberdeen venue has been shortlisted in the Regional Gym of the Year (Scotland) category at the National Fitness Awards, an annual event which recognises excellence and achievement in gyms throughout the country.

Earlier this year, Sport Aberdeen tasked its fitness development partner Pulse with the dramatic refit of the Beach Leisure Centre gym with state-of-the-art strength and training equipment.

The awards are organised by leading fitness industry magazine Workout, with support from headline sponsor ServiceSport, and in each category up to seven finalists have been selected, who will now go through to the next stage of the judging process where they will be out to impress by showcasing first hand the great work going on in their clubs.

This stage involves a visit to each finalist by a member of the Workout team who will take a look around the facilities and chat to members and staff before compiling a comprehensive report, which will then be passed on to an expert judging panel to decide the lucky winners.

Trophies will then be handed out a glittering awards ceremony on Friday December 2 at The Athena in Leicester, which will be hosted by boxing world champion Ricky Hatton and award winning personal trainer and star of The Apprentice Katie Bulmer-Cooke.

National Fitness Awards’ director Judith Halkerston said:

“The quality and quantity of National Fitness Awards’ entries just keep improving year on year and everyone who has been shortlisted this year should be really proud of their achievement so far as competition was so strong and standards so high.

“The team is really looking forward to visiting all our shortlisted clubs and seeing some of the great work that is going on in the fitness industry on a daily basis.”

Director of Operations and Asset Development for Sport Aberdeen, Keith Gerrard, said:

“We are truly delighted that the Beach Leisure Centre has been shortlisted for such a prestigious national title.

“Sport Aberdeen is committed to creating opportunities, inspiring people and changing lives through sport and physical activity. This approach shines through in the Beach Leisure Centre which is proudly an essential part of the community.

“The recent modernisation of the Beach Leisure Centre gym with state of the art equipment is one of many examples of our ongoing commitment to providing an excellent offer to our customers.

“None of this would have been achieved without the hard work of colleagues at Sport Aberdeen. We look forward to the next stage of this process.”