The Gordon Hall Memorial Fund

About the Fund

The Gordon Hall Memorial Fund was set up in memory of Gordon Hall, our Managing Director from 1998 to 2019, who sadly passed away in 2019. The aim of the fund is to provide financial support to our employees, personal trainers and members who train with us and compete in a recognised sport at a national or international level on a self-funded basis. Funding can be used towards travel and event participation costs with grants up to the value of £2,500 available.

This was something that Gordon strongly believed in and encouraged throughout his time with Lifestyle Fitness. This fund aims to continue his legacy and help us remember Gordon whilst giving back to our staff and members who want to accomplish their goals.

Meet the LSF Athletes!

Adam Courtney

Short-distance sprinter

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Callum Spencer

Judo

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Matthew Douthwaite

Short-distance sprinter

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Lucy Aston

Tumbling

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Amy Bone

Taekwondo

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Casey Austin

Swimming

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Abi Sweetlove

Football

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Izak & Felyx Williams

Mountain Biking

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Damian O' Hagan

Swimming

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Nick Griggs

Running

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Adam Courtney

Short-distance sprinter

Adam is a member at Lifestyle Fitness Ballymena, and a part of Ballymena & Antrim Athletics Club and also Athletics NI Youth Academy.

 

Adam is currently ranked 10th in the UK at the 400m sprint, improving his time by 3 seconds from the start of 2021 to the end, and is currently looking to compete at the European level. Adam currently had the opportunity to attend warm weather training in Portugal this Easter with the Youth Academy, and support from the GHMF has assisted him with this!

Callum Spencer

Judo

Callum is a new athlete to benefit from the fund, who has recently smashed a national Judo contest, winning five out of five competitions and gaining a gold medal!

 

Callum, who is a member at our Stourport branch and competes for Samurai Judo Club, fought in a weight category above his own which also included four higher grade black belt opponents, helping him automatically gain 40 points towards his 2nd Dan black belt. It’s no wonder Callum was nominated for Player of The Year at his local club!

Matthew Douthwaite

Short-distance sprinter

Matthew is a member at Lifestyle Fitness Shildon. Another short distance sprinter, he also specializes in 400m but is additionally competing at the 200m sprint. When asked about what his training looked like, Matthew said that a typical season would include participation in North East Counties, North East Grand Prix, Tyne Tees Grand Prix, Northern Athletics Open, Northern Athletics Indoor Senior Championship and the Scottish National Championship.

 

Matthew was ranked in the top 50 indoors for his age group and in his time improved for a 400m PB from 52.5 secs to 50.38 secs outdoors, placing him 2nd in the North East! 

Lucy Aston

Tumbling

Lucy Aston is a member at Lifestyle Fitness Spennymoor who competes internationally for Team GB in Tumbling.

 

Lucy's latest trip was with Team GB to Azerbaijan for the Acrobatic Gymnastic World Championships, which saw her rank 14th in the world for her age range.

Amy Bone

Taekwondo

Amy is also a member at Lifestyle Fitness Spennymoor, and currently competes competively in Taekwondo. 

 

In August, Amy competed in Estonia for a European qualifying event, where she narrowly missed out by one point. Amy has big plans to compete for Team GB in Taekwondo, and has recently began working with coaches on the British Taekwondo team so she can take her training to the next level!

 

Upcoming plans are for Amy to travel and train with a team based in Sheffield. This is where her BT team coach is based, and Amy will be travelling with her new team to international G2 ranking events, allowing her to build up World and Olympic ranking points.

Casey Austin

Swimming

Casey is a member at Lifestyle Fitness Thorns and swims for Sandwell Aquatics. Recently, Casey was fortunate enough to swim at the Test Event last April and win several Gold Medals. Casey is currently swimming at County and Regional level and is aiming for the Nationals in her breaststroke.

 

A few words from Casey: "I currently train six evenings a week for a minimum of one and a half hours each session. I recently joined the gym here at Thorns with my sister Morgan who helps me stay motivated in my sessions. My goal is to continue training hard with a view to being on the English Swimming Team ...and possibly the Olympics!" Casey recently made 2 finals in 50m Breaststroke and 100m Breaststroke adding 2 new Regional times and 2nd overall in the County for both events. She has a lot of competitive races coming up this year and we will be supporting her every step of the way! 

Abi Sweetlove

Football

Abi joined Ballymena Utd Youth Academy in 2012 at just 6 years old. Her talent was noticed by coaches early on and she progressed for 10 years with the boys’ team and manged to stay at the appropriate level up to U16 when she decided to leave to pursue her football career with Linfield Ladies FC. Abi was the first ever female to play in the boys’ section of the renowned tournament SupercpNI and made it to the semi-finals.

 

Abi was also invited in the player development programme for Northern Ireland Ladies at the age of 9 where she was playing and training in the above age category. She then captained the squad through several years and has participated in several prestige tournament’s including Women’s U17 European Championships. It has always been Abi’s ambition to take her football career to the highest level and she hopes to study at the university closest to the team she manages to play for!

Izak & Felyx Williams

Mountain Biking

Izak and Felyx Williams are both members at Lifestyle Fitness Stourport and compete nationally in Mountain Bike 4x racing. Izak and Felyx are recognised as being 2 of the finest young talents in this discipline. Izak put in a solid performance in not only his debut year on the national stage, but his debut year in racing in general. In his first year he raced at 7 events and always placed in the top 10. Felyx came 1st, 3rd, and 2nd in the qualifying motos in round 3, qualifying for the final which he won. In round 4, Felyx came 1st in all three motos, and then 1st in the final. 

 

Both Izak & Felyx have recently returned from Falmouth where they competed in rounds 3 and 4 of the British 4x Series. In round 3, Izak came 1st in his three motos, then 1st in his semi final and went on to win the final. In round 4, he repeated his results from round 3, winning again. An amazing achievement considering he was racing against the age group above his own. 

Damian O' Hagan

Swimming

Damian is a member at Lifestyle Fitness Clonoe and swims for Dungannon Amateur Swimming Club specialising in Breaststroke. Damian currently ranks in the top 16 swimmers in Northern Ireland and picked up Gold in the 50m breaststroke in his latest Open meet in Monaghan, along with 2 gold medals at the recent Lisburn Swim Festival. 

 

With support from the GHMF, Damian is currently training for the Summer National Championships which will be held in the National Aquatic Centre, Dublin before turning his attention to the Winter National Short Course Championships. 

Nick Griggs

Running

 Nick is also a member at Lifestyle Fitness Clonoe and is a middle and long-distance runner, specialising in the 1500m, 3000m and 5000m events. Current achievements include: Irish U20 5000m record, Irish U20 indoor 1500m, 3000m and mile records, Irish U20 outdoor 1500m, 3000m and mile records, European U20 3000m champion 2021 & European U20 indoor Mile record (3:56). 

 

Nick's upcoming competitions include the European U20 Championships and the European Cross Country Championships. Over the coming year, with support from the GHMF, Nick intends on training at altitude in South Africa, France and Arizona and has a dream of competing at the 2024 Paris Olympics. 

Do you think you could be our next LSF Athlete? Enter your details below and a member of the team will be in touch!