Fitness on four wheels

IN a month or so, a futuristic mobile gym will hit the roads of Wear Valley as part of a unique experiment. The large white trailer bearing the distinctive WOW (Wellness On Wheels) logo will park on the edge of selected villages or towns and set about changing people's lives forever.

Part of an ambitious initiative designed to reach parts of the population who are remote from leisure centres and gyms, a lot is riding on the success of the WOW project.

The concept is a world first and was developed specifically with the Wear Valley in mind because of growing concern about low levels of fitness in the community and the impact on general health. It is designed to work up and down Weardale and in the Wear Valley, where car ownership is only 50 per cent. Statistics for Wear Valley show that in virtually every key health indicator, the area falls short of the national average.

While deaths from strokes, coronary heart disease and bladder cancer are falling nationally, they are increasing within the district. The local NHS body - the Durham Dales Primary Care Trust - believes that increasing levels of physical exercise will have a significant part to play in reducing these levels.

If the WOW initiative works, it should give many people who have no previous experience of regular exercise a taste for getting fit and staying fit. Costing £1.1m over three years, including a £641,000 grant from Sport England and the Active England Fund, the WOW initiative could be the first of many mobile gyms venturing into relatively deprived, relatively remote parts of the country. Or it could become a costly white elephant, making little lasting impact on rural and deprived communities.

At this early stage, the local partners behind WOW, including Wear Valley District Council and Durham Dales Primary Care Trust, say they are determined to make the massive investment pay off.

Olympic athlete Alison Curbishley, who was at the project's official launch last week, is very hopeful that it could make a difference.

"What we are looking at is trying to motivate people, trying to sow the first seed. That ten-week period gives you enough time to motivate yourself and gets you used to a regular training programme. The idea is that once the mobile gym moves on, the connections will be in place to help that person carry on," says Alison, who is on the council of Sport England. "This is for people who would not dream of going to a gym. It will be free and it is going to bring people through the door."

But sceptics will wonder what will happen to local people's resolve to get fit when the WOW trailer shuts up shop after ten weeks and moves on to the next location.

At the end of the three year scheme, an evaluation by academics at Durham University, which is also being paid for by Sport England and the Active England Fund, should clear up this issue once and for all.

But for WOW project manager, Natalie Drew, and her team of fitness instructors, the work is already beginning to ensure that the pioneering project will leave a lasting legacy.

Natalie, who has previously worked on Lottery-funded sports development schemes in Darlington, is convinced that the WOW project can make a difference in the long term.

While the WOW trailer is not expected to start its progress around the region until May, Natalie is already working with communities to ensure that it gets a good reception when it appears. She is also preparing lists of existing clubs, societies and groups which can be joined by WOW "graduates" once they get the exercise bug.

"We are putting out feelers to local communities so they know we are coming. There is a lot of support from GPs in these areas," says Natalie, 25, who lives in Darlington.

"We are really hoping that the WOW unit will kick-start people into taking up physical activity. We will spend ten weeks in each area and try to change people's perceptions about gyms and taking exercise."

Natalie believes that anyone visiting the WOW mobile gym for the first time will be impressed. Specially designed so that it almost doubles in size when it is parked, the gym has 16 workstations offering the usual range of exercise equipment, including treadmills, bikes, hand cycles, skiing machines and weights.

Unusually, everyone who takes part in a phased exercise programme will be given their own electronic key, which will allow fitness instructors to guide and monitor them as they progress. It is so sophisticated that it will even greet people with their own name when they start their sessions.

The WOW team are hoping to entice people from a wide age and ability range, including people who have weight problems or disabilities.

"Our fitness instructors will do an induction, which can be in a private area. People will be asked to give us a bit of background about their personal lifestyles - how much exercise do they take? Do they walk or drive to work? - and we will show them the facilities," says Natalie.

Each client will have a graduated exercise programme designed specifically for them to meet their needs. "The programme will last for ten weeks, although we will meet after three weeks to assess progress," says Natalie.

The electronic key system will encourage people by telling them how many calories they have burned after each session, as well as how far they have travelled if they have been running or cycling. It also enables fitness staff to continue to check on former clients when the trailer moves on. "If someone plays tennis or goes walking, they can register this activity on our special website so we can keep track of people," says Natalie.

This means that if someone stops exercising, the team can contact them to find out why they have stopped and what they need to start again.

"Once we have got them through the doors, our instructors will do their best to encourage them to keep the exercise going, including phone calls to their homes," says Natalie.

The WOW team are also looking at what they call 'exit routes', so they can ensure that newly converted exercise fans can link up with local groups. "We are talking to walking groups, cycling clubs and other groups in each area. We are also checking with local GPs to see if exercise referral schemes are available for them," says Natalie.

She knows that a lot is at stake. "Our biggest challenge will be to get people to participate in the first place, but if we lose them when we move on, it will mean we are not reaching our goal."

Fitness instructor John Pilkington, 25, from Crook in County Durham, is certainly relishing the task of turning people on to exercise. "I'm from the area and I know there is nothing up the dale for people. I am impressed by the trailer and the whole concept and I hope we can have a real impact," he says.

His colleague Chris Parkinson, 20, from Witton-le-Wear, County Durham, says: "It's a great idea. It gives people who don't have the opportunity to use a gym the chance to get fit, and it's free as well."