• January 29, 2008

CityVoter and ExerciseTV have partnered to launch an online contest to find the country's best fitness professionals. The search for the "ExerciseTV Top Trainer" runs from January 28 to March 23, and personal trainers and other fitness pros are invited to nominate themselves (or have friends, clients and family nominate them) at www.exercisetv.tv/toptrainer.

Los Angeles-based ExerciseTV is a joint venture between Comcast, Time Warner Cable, New Balance and Jake Steinfeld of "Body by Jake," and produces video on demand as well as online content. The network is piggybacking on the success of its 2007 "America's Next Fitness Star" contest, in which more than 1,000 fitness professionals competed to be named the country's next fitness celebrity.

Boston-based CityVoter will power the nomination, voting and commenting features on the site, as well as listings of local fitness professionals, complete with photos, maps and contact info. After the contest, the ExerciseTV Top Trainer guides will ultimately feature info on trainers from more than 10 major metropolitan areas, broken down into categories like Boot Camp, Yoga and Kickboxing.

--Tameka Kee