Whether residents want a mild fitness challenge or a difficult one, all will have their chance to get active in the spring with the opening of the Party City Outdoor Gym.
The gym is being billed as a one-of-a-kind facility and features circuit training and Fitcore Extreme Equipment.
“The equipment on the far side is for mere mortals like most of us,” said Bruce Vance with the City of Prince Albert, “and we have extreme equipment.”
The obstacle course, compared in style to the show American Ninja Warriors, has arrows marking the course from one challenge to the next.
The end is climbing a pole and ringing the bell on the top.
The gym is 7,000 square feet with a rubber safety turf surface can accommodate drops from up to 14 feet.
Sails overhead provide shade and for people not wanting to take on the obstacle challenge, more traditional equipment like a rowing station, cardio stepper, chest and back press and an elliptical are available.
“The idea when we built the Field House, which was 11 years ago, was to make it so this area adjacent to the hospital so you could come here and get fit so you don’t have to go to the hospital,” said Malcolm Jenkins, owner of the Prince Albert Canadian Tire.
His sponsorship helped build the Field House, which is named after his father, and also put $300,000 towards the building of the outdoor gym.
The Party City name comes from Jenkins’ donation as Canadian Tire has owned Party City since 2019.
The indoor building has a soccer field and workout area, there are basketball courts and Jump Start playground.
“Now this is the final piece of the health and wellness campus,” Jenkins said. “This plugs a hole for kids 13 and up.”
Although it may not be the final, final piece if someone has an idea to add something more such as a pickleball court, he said.
Jenkins is happy with how the entire area has developed over the years.
“If you took a drone up and you looked down you would see this is pretty much the cat’s butt,” said Jenkins. “I don’t know where in Canada there’s a better facility than we have in Prince Albert now. I’m delighted with how this has turned out.”
The exceptionality of the area and the new play structure was echoed by Serge Gette, a playground consultant with Playgrounds R Us.
“It’s unprecedented. This is the first project of this magnitude that we’ve ever done,” said Gette.
The equipment is simple to use and users can do a range of exercises like stretching, exercise or cardio equipment, or they can try to hand over hand a climbing wall at different heights.
“For those who are more brave or ambitious, we’ve got our extreme circuit which is more like Ninja Warrior themed stuff,” said Gette. “It kind of fits the bill universally.”
