<PAGE>

                                                                    EXHIBIT 31.3

I, Mark Smith, Chairman of Town Sports International, Inc., certify that:

          1. I have reviewed this quarterly report on Form 10-Q of Town Sports
     International, Inc.;

          2. Based on my knowledge, this quarterly report does not contain any
     untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact
     necessary to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under
     which such statements were made, not misleading with respect to the period
     covered by this quarterly report;

          3. Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other
     financial information included in this quarterly report, fairly present in
     all material respects the financial condition, results of operations and
     cash flows of the registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in this
     quarterly report;

          4. The registrant's other certifying officers and I are responsible
     for establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as
     defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(a) and 15d-15(e)) for the registrant
     and we have:

             (a) Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused
        such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our
        supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the
        registrant, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to us
        by others within those entities, particularly during the period in which
        this quarterly report is being prepared;

             (b) Evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant's disclosure
        controls and presented in this report our conclusions about the
        effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures, as of the end
        of the period covered by this report based on such evaluation; and

             (c) Disclosed in this report any change in the registrant's
        internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the
        registrant's most recent fiscal quarter (the registrant's fourth quarter
        in the case of an annual report) that has materially affected, or is
        reasonably likely to materially affect, the registrant's internal
        control over financial reporting; and

          5. The registrant's other certifying officer and I have disclosed,
     based on our most recent evaluation, to the registrant's auditors and the
     audit committee of the registrant's board of directors (or persons
     performing the equivalent function):

             (a) All significant deficiencies and material weakness in the
        design or operation of internal controls which are reasonably likely to
        adversely affect the registrant's ability to record, process, summarize
        and report financial information; and

             (b) Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or
        other employees who have a significant role in the registrant's internal
        controls over financial reporting; and

Date: May 13, 2003

By: /s/ MARK SMITH
    ----------------------------------
    Mark Smith
    Chairman