The Centennial Community Centre fitness area is now open for business – six months after fitness programs were sidelined by the sudden closure of Canada Games Pool.
In response to the pool’s closure, the city decided to relocate fitness equipment from the Canada Games Pool fitness area to the gymnasium in Centennial Community Centre. The fitness centre opened in its new space on Thursday, March 31 (today).
“We just want to welcome everybody back,” said Corrinne Garrett, the city’s senior manager of recreation facilities and services. “We can’t wait to see their smiling faces, and please feel free to give us feedback on the space. We want to make sure that the space is the best from them. We are always open to the comments, their input and their feedback.”
Despite some “hiccups” along the way, Garrett said the parks and recreation department was able to open the centre by the end of March as it had hoped.
Garrett said the fitness centre has several different sections, including a strength training section, a stretching section, and a functional training section that includes equipment like battle ropes and cable crossovers.
The facility is equipped with 10 different cardio machines, including treadmills, elliptical trainers, recumbent bikes and steppers, and upright bikes. It’s also home to variety of selectorized machines, where people can do leg curls, peck fly and back fly extensions, and other exercises.
Garrett said about 70% to 80% of the equipment that was in the Canada Games Pool fitness area has been relocated into the new space.
“In all honesty, the amount of equipment that was in that space at Canada Games Pool, it was quite cramped,” she said. “So we have been able to Increase the functionality of the fitness centre by giving a little bit more space and not having duplicate pieces of equipment, so that you are not feeling cramped and there is a lot of space to do movements safely by not bumping into other pieces of equipment.”
But all that equipment – and more – will be housed in fitness areas of the təməsew̓txʷ Aquatic and Community Centre, which is now under construction on the site next to Canada Games Pool.
People who visited the fitness centre in advance of the March 31 official opening said they loved the controlled air temperature in the space, as compared to the humidity at Canada Games Pool, Garrett said.
“It looks like a fitness centre; it doesn’t look like a gymnasium anymore. We have mirrors up on the walls, in front of our heavier lifting equipment as well as all of our dumbbells, in those sections, as well as in our stretching section,” she said. “We do have a sound system that is being utilized, and currently, not yet, but by the next week we will have our TVs up because some people do like to watch sports games and sometimes even the news with the close-captioning underneath it while they are working out. So we will have some of those installed as of next week.”
Garrett said a rubberized matting surface has been placed on top of the gymnasium’s floor to buffer the sound. It was recovered from the Canada Games Pool fitness centre.
Because there are limited change rooms available, the city is encouraging people to arrive ready to work out.
When is it open?
As part of today’s grand opening, a special “Try-it!” time is taking place from 3 to 8 p.m., when attendees will pay a reduced admission fee of $2.
The Centennial Community Centre fitness centre is open Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. The $2 Try-it! times are offered on Tuesdays (11 a.m. to 1 p.m.), Thursdays (5 to 7 p.m.) and Sundays (1 to 3 p.m.)
Because of early morning and evening swims at Canada Games Pool, the fitness centre in that facility had longer hours than what’s currently being offered at Centennial Community Centre.
“If we are getting a lot of feedback that they would like it open earlier or the public would like it open later, we will definitely take that feedback,” Garrett said. “Everything that we do, we are able to adjust it based on the needs of the community. We are starting with that and are going to watch our numbers and get the input back from the community. If we do need to extend those hours, we will definitely evaluate that.”
In addition to Centennial Community Centre, fitness services are also offered at Queensborough Community Centre, the New West Youth Centre and Century House (50+ years). Fitness centres no longer require reservations.
Details about fitness centre times at all facilities can be found at newwestcity.ca/drop-in, while information about fees and memberships is available at newwestcity.ca/activepass.
The decision to move the fitness area into the Centennial Community Centre gymnasium resulted in the relocation of pickleball and Fitness New West group fitness classes to other spaces in the city – with some Fitness New West supporters expressing concern about being bumped out of their longtime home. The pickleball program is now offered at Herbert Spencer Elementary School, while the Fitness New West classes have moved to Century House, the River Room in Centennial Community Centre and Centennial Lodge in Queen’s Park.
təməsew̓txʷ Aquatic and Community Centre, a facility being built to replace Canada Games Pool and Centennial Community Centre, is projected to open in late 2023.
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