GYMGOERS in Northwich will be getting down and dirty next month at the UK’s toughest - and filthiest - endurance race.

Specialist gym and sports injury clinic, Namix Performance Centre, have entered a team of 17 brave staff and clients, led by lead trainer, Tom Merrick, into Manchester’s Tough Mudder endurance race on Sunday, July 16.

These brave men and women will take on 10 kilometres of mud and obstacles with names like 'the mudderhorn', 'arctic enema', 'Everest', and 'electroshock therapy', all designed to push their physical and mental strength to the limit.

The team are raising money through their Justgiving page for the Motor Neurone Disease Assocation (MNDA), in honour of fellow long-standing Namix member, Graeme Webb, who suffers with a form of the condition.

Northwich Guardian: Graeme works with Namix clinical director, Chris Wood, to help maintain muscle recruitment Graeme works with Namix clinical director, Chris Wood, to help maintain muscle recruitment (Image: Namix)

Namix operations director, Charlotte Wood, explained the team's motivation. 

She said: "Graeme is one of our original members who joined in 2019, but we’ve known him much longer than that.

"We’ve all seen the effect motor neurone disease has had, not only on Graeme's life, but on his family’s life too. That brings it very close to home.

"The team have been doing really intense workouts to get ready for the race on July 16.

"Some of them have actually avoided finding out what obstacles they'll face, because they know it’s going to be hard.

"Every Saturday, Tom’s been holding a circuit session early in the morning.  

"It’s all been heavy weight circuit-based training, with one-kilometre runs in between. 

"They've been focusing on conditioning exercises like push passes, deadlifts, and bent-over rows."

Charlotte says Namix differs from other gyms as clients who have injuries can come for specialist training sessions which can actually aid their recovery.

Though he now uses a wheelchair, Graeme still works out regularly with Namix clinical director, Chris Wood. 

Charlotte added: “An injury can be the thing that keeps you out of most gyms, but we can help clients adapt to it, as we specialise in that area.

“We still look after Graeme, even though he now uses a wheelchair. We work with him to try and maintain as much muscle activation as possible.

"That’s what makes us a bit different from the average gym."