THE team behind a County Durham leisure centre have been shortlisted for a national award.

The Spectrum Leisure Centre in Willington has made it to the final six in the Local Authority or Leisure Trust gym of the Year category of the National Fitness Awards.

The National Fitness Awards are the biggest free-to-enter awards in the gym industry and recognise excellence, innovation and hard work.

Each of the gyms will be visited by one of the National Fitness Awards' judging team with members travelling as far north as The Shetland Islands and as far south as Falmouth to meet the owners and staff, tour the facilities, chat with members and present a detailed report to an expert panel of judges.

National Fitness Awards event director Judith Halkerston said: "Visiting the shortlisted gyms really is one of the WorkOut team's favourite jobs of the year – it is inspiring to see all the great work that is going on in facilities, big and small, all over the country.

"All the shortlisted gyms have done really well already beating off stiff competition – it's been a tough task choosing just six as the quality of entries seems to just get better year on year. We believe we have made the right choices though and many congratulations to all the finalists."

Winners will be announced in December.

Spectrum Leisure Centre was taken over by a group of local volunteers in 2007 and last year was the first in the UK to install exercise equipment that generated electricity to power the gym.

Chief Executive, Ian Hirst said: “To be nominated in the first instance is great but to be shortlisted to the final six is fantastic news for everyone concerned.”