South West College welcomed former student Chris Gilroy back to the Enniskillen and Omagh campuses recently to showcase his new business, Health Fit Lab to current sports students.
Chris’ returned to his studies following a 15-year break, completing the two-year Foundation Degree in Sport and Exercise Science in Enniskillen, and earning his Bachelors degree at the Omagh campus in 2022. He is currently undertaking a master’s degree in human nutrition at University of Ulster in Coleraine and credits the success of his business start-up and continued academic journey to his time at South West College.
Reflecting on his time academic journey, Chris said;
‘My time at South West College helped me develop research skills and statistics analysis which have really help me in setting up this business. Without the degree in Sport and Exercise at South West College I would never have had the opportunity to progress my academic journey into the area of Human Nutrition and this is also going to help me with the further development of Health Fit Lab’
During his visit to the campuses Chris gave demonstrations of the services offered by his business, carrying out a VO2 Max test on student athletes. The test is a measure of VO2 per Kg of body weight per minute, conducted when the athlete is using a treadmill and is a gold standard in fitness testing offering great insights into their physiology.
Christopher McDowell, Curriculum Manager for Health, Life and Personal Sciences said;
‘It has been a pleasure to welcome Chris back to South West College to showcase his new business to our current BTEC Level 3 and Foundation Degree students. Chris has very successfully applied his learning and experience with the set up of this innovative new business and we look forward to seeing him achieve further success with Health Fit Lab which is carrying out vital work in the area of fitness testing.
For further information about the sports and exercise courses on offer at South West College visit Sport & Exercise | South West College (swc.ac.uk)