Some lucky participants tested a new extreme outdoor gym in Prince Albert Thursday. (Ian Gustafson/paNOW)

By Ian Gustafson

New Facility

‘This is unprecedented’: New Party City Outdoor Gym set to open in spring 2022

Nov 4, 2021 | 5:21 PM

Fitness enthusiasts and those looking for a more extreme workout will soon have a new way to get active.

The City of Prince Albert gave a sneak peak to the public of the new Party City Outdoor Gym at the Alfred Jenkins Field House Thursday afternoon.

City parks manager Tim Yeaman told paNOW they wanted to build something extreme.

“We have lots of great playgrounds you can go to and there’s lots of fun aspects to those playgrounds but when we we’re looking at this location and looking at the equipment, we wanted something that would challenge teenagers, the older folk themselves and actually just have a lot of fun,” Yeaman said.

Much of the course is made up of extreme style equipment. (Ian Gustafson/paNOW staff)

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The new outdoor gym is designed for people over the age of 13 and has a ‘ninja warrior’ type aspect to it. The traditional workout circuit includes an ab crunch/ leg lift machine, rowing/pushup station, cardio stepper, elliptical machine, balance steps, chest and back press, pull up/dip bar, squat press and a chin up bar. The more extreme elements include a spider walk, ledge hanger, quintuple steps, jump hang, globe grasp, high step, rope climb and over under steps.

There are arrows on the ‘ninja warrior’ course to direct participants with the final stage being a rope climb and subsequent bell ring to complete the course.

“I think there’s always been a desire to see something more like a ‘ninja warrior’ type style course within the city here and this was just a great opportunity to do something different,” Yeaman said.

There is also a circuit for those looking for a less extreme workout. (Ian Gustafson/paNOW staff)

The Party City Outdoor Gym was largely funded by a donation of $300,000 from Malcolm Jenkins, owner of the local Canadian Tire, with the remaining cost paid for by the City of P.A. The cost of the project totalled $554,000 and was built by Playgrounds-R-Us. The gym was originally supposed to open this summer but was delayed due to some additional engineering. With winter right around the corner, the 7,000 square foot gym will not be open until the spring of 2022.Yeaman said they want the landscaping to settle in and they have a few more touch ups they’d like to get done.

“We know that if these types of structures are here and they’re being utilized it provides the community a sense of cohesion and a place to come and gather and just really enjoy themselves,” he said. “And I think this is going to be a hot spot moving forward. We certainly see this area being used significantly in the years to come and it’s just really exciting to see it all here.”

The gym is described as one-of-a-kind since there apparently isn’t anything like this elsewhere in Canada.
The city is excited to set the precedent for what extreme fitness can look like, especially outdoors.

The gym also has shade structures, a safety turf surface made from engineered Styrofoam and lights to be used in the evenings. When it opens in the spring, it will be open for all to use for free 24 hours a day.

This is the globe grasp part of the ninja warrior aspect of the outdoor gym. (Ian Gustafson/paNOW staff)

Serge Gette, playground consultant for Playgrounds-R-Us out of Regina said the Party City Outdoor Gym is the first mega-fitness project they’ve done on this scale.

“This is unprecedented,” he said. “What makes this project really unique is that there’s a growing need to be outdoors in the summer but sometimes the heat and the sun is a deterrent so that makes this such a great attraction is that we have of the shade incorporated around it.”

He added they began construction in May, and it took approximately five months to complete.

The gym is one of the final pieces to a variety of activities offered in and around the Alfred Jenkins Field House. Malcolm Jenkins, owner of the local Canadian Tire and donor to the project, said its one they had in the works for more than a decade.

“I couldn’t be more delighted the way it’s turned out. It’s a beautiful addition to P.A. I think this is probably the best overall park in Canada now and that’s what we were shooting for,” Jenkins said.

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Ian.Gustafson@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @IanGustafson12