Local fitness business brings new competition to Southbourne this October

Dragon Fitness is bringing an open functional fitness competition to Southbourne after its founders noticed local competitors were often travelling further afield to take part in events.

A Southbourne fitness business is hoping to give local people the chance to compete closer to home with a new functional fitness competition taking place this October.

The Dragon’s Trial will take place at Bourne Leisure in Southbourne on Sunday, October 11, bringing together competitors for a day of outdoor fitness challenges.

The event has been organised by Phil and Christina of Dragon Fitness, which has been running in the local area since March 2021.

The pair came up with the idea after running smaller, fun competitions for their own clients and seeing how far people often have to travel to take part in larger functional fitness events.

“We've run a couple of competitions ourselves for our clients and really enjoyed the atmosphere. But when you look at the bigger functional fitness competitions, people are often travelling to Bristol, London, Birmingham or further afield. We thought, why not bring one here?”

The Dragon’s Trial will include individual, same-sex pairs and mixed-sex pairs categories and is open to people of all abilities.

The organisers have capacity for up to 150 competitors, although they are expecting around 50 people to take part in the first event.

Dragon Fitness runs a mixture of indoor and outdoor fitness sessions from venues in Southbourne, Westbourne and Fishbourne, and the competition represents a step up from the smaller events previously held for its own members.

Phil and Christina say the aim is to create a competition that is challenging but welcoming, rather than something aimed only at experienced athletes.

“We want people to come along, challenge themselves and have a great day. You don't have to be an elite athlete to take part. It's about seeing what you can do and enjoying the experience.”

The event will feature a range of functional fitness challenges testing strength, conditioning and endurance, with competitors able to enter individually or as part of a pair.

For Dragon Fitness, the event is also an opportunity to bring together the wider fitness community in the area and give people the chance to experience competition without having to travel further afield.

The Dragon’s Trial takes place at Bourne Leisure, Southbourne, on Sunday, October 11.