CrossTraining Clitheroe, in Primrose Road, is one of ten businesses currently battling it out for your votes to be named the Lancashire Telegraph’s Best Gym 2026.

Having been in the fitness industry for 28 years, Chris Templeman began the training facility after noticing that there was a lack of businesses offering CrossFit training locally.

CrossFit is a high-intensity fitness programme combining varied functional movements like weightlifting, gymnastics, and cardio.

Chris said: “I have grown up with the [Lancashire] Telegraph, and it would be good to get the recognition for what we have done.

“We have helped a lot of people over the last 16 years, and it would be nice to win.

“It is more than just a gym, and it is a life-changing experience. We have helped people in a very bad situation and allowed them to achieve amazing things.”

Since opening as a business, the gym has engaged with a wide range of charitable causes, including raising £20,000 for pancreatic cancer following the death of one of its members.

Other initiatives have included a naked calendar as well as setting up The 180 Project, which uses CrossFit as a way of helping rehabilitation, as well as MentalFit to support children in schools.

Chris added: “We build a high level of fitness and they can use it to be better parents, better husbands and wives or go and be at the level they want to be.

“I don’t care if you lose weight, but I want you to be better at moving through space and time, and a side effect is your going to lose body fat.

“The goal is to change your outlook on fitness and have a better relationship with food and exercise.

“The biggest stars are the members, they will go out of their way to help in any way, and my coaches have one simple rule, this is the best hour of the day, and they can come and switch off.”

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The business now employs four full-time staff and numerous part-time staff, with many of the employees being former members of the gym who have fallen in love with fitness.

Readers can vote for their favourite gym by picking up a paper copy of the Lancashire Telegraph.

Voting slips are in the newspaper for two weeks, starting from Monday, January 19, with the winner to be announced next month.

The competition is open to gyms based in Blackburn with Darwen, Hyndburn, Pendle, Burnley, Rossendale, and the Ribble Valley, with the top 10 list featuring both small neighbourhood gyms and larger, modern facilities.