TWO Irvine gym owners have been awarded £4,000 by Entrepreneurial Spark.

DuaL Fitness, run by fitness fanatics Lorraine Howie and Drew Wilson, were rewarded by the business accelerator which celebrates the work of entrepreneurs.

Formerly based in Irvine but now in Dundonald, DuaL Fitness were praised for making real business progress in the last six months.

As a result, they walked away with the Acceler-8 award and £4,000 of new investment.

Entrepreneurial Spark is the world’s largest free business accelerator for early stage and growing ventures, run in partnership with the Royal Bank of Scotland, KPMG and EMC.

The Entrepreneuring Awards offered ‘Chiclets’ (entrepreneurs) in Ayrshire the chance to win between £1,000 and £6,000 to propel their business growth.

Previous winners have gone on to increase turnover by up to 60 per cent, create additional jobs to grow their team and expand across the country.

Entrepreneurial Spark co-founder and Chief Entrepreneuring Officer, Lucy-Rose Walker said: “At Entrepreneurial Spark we focus on building people who build businesses, and taking home an Entrepreneuring Award shows how hard you’ve worked and progressed during your time in the Hatchery.

“We’ve seen some incredible things from the Chiclets in Ayrshire so well done to everyone who was nominated and to all of the winners.”