A CANVEY gym owner who almost died from a heart condition is hoping the gym he runs to make others healthier will win a national award.

Dave Rowe, 52, entered his gym, Lifestyle Fitness, on Point Road, Canvey, into the regional gym of the year category, in the highly regarded National Fitness Awards.

He was nominated out of 647 entrants with the gym making the final six.

He will attend a swanky awards ceremony in Leicester, in November, with the rest of his team.

Dave, who runs Lifestyle Fitness with his wife Angie and daughter Megan, said: “We are over the moon.

“When we got a call from the organisers giving us the good news, wow, I couldn’t believe it.

“I was pretty speechless, which is not often.

“We’ve been running for ten years but expanded two years ago and moved to a new site in September 2016.

“Someone in the industry said we should enter into the National Fitness Awards so we did.

In 2010 Dave suffered an aortic aneurysm.

“He needed life-saving heart surgery, which he pulled through from.

However, in 2016, a week after Dave’s new premises was opened on Point Road, he went on a cruise with his wife and suffered a blockage due to tissue scarring on his heart.

He was fitted with a pacemaker and made a full recovery.

His son, Sam, also suffers from the same hereditary condition.

He had surgery in 2015 and joins his father in keeping fit at the gym.

The gym is on the shortlist of six for regional gym of the year.

As part of the selection process, the judges had to visit each of the selected facilities and Lifestyle Fitness came up trumps.

Dave added: “After getting shortlisted, we had a judge come down to the gym.

“This took place on Wednesday morning.

“They visit to check things out for themselves.”

“He loved our gym and our concept. We are all so proud, I can’t put it into words.”

“It sounds corny but it’s not just about me and my wife, it’s about me and my whole team, I couldn’t have done it without them.”

The gym website states: “We aren’t a typical council run gym, or old school rough gym, we are a real gym, getting real results, for real people.”