City Parks Manager Tim Yeaman demonstrates an elliptical at the new outdoor gym. (Rob Mahon/paNOW Staff)

By Rob Mahon

Outdoor Gym Opens

Delayed by summer flooding, outdoor gym opens at Alfred Jenkins Field House

Sep 27, 2022 | 5:00 PM

Flooding over the summer put a halt to workouts at the outdoor gym at the Alfred Jenkins Field House. Freshly equipped with a new surface, however, it’s open once again.

The city officially re-opened the outdoor gym Tuesday, complete with a new surface that’s more like what you’ll see on a playground. That new surface should last as long as 30 years.

“This is a great place to come visit, take some time for yourself, and work out and try a few new things and maybe meet a few people as well,” said Tim Yeaman, City of Prince Albert Parks Manager. “This is what community is all about, having these places where people can come and just gather.”

Now that it’s open, the outdoor gym includes pull-up and triceps dip stations as well as an elliptical machine, a rope climb, ninja-warrior style agility equipment, and a chest-press exercise. The whole facility encompasses about 7,000 square feet.

“Our constant vision for the city was that we’d come up with a health and wellness campus that keeps people on this side of the lot rather than in the hospital,” said Malcolm Jenkins, owner of Prince Albert’s Canadian Tire.

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“When it comes down to it and a kid’s got diabetes and you’ve got to strap him up to a machine because he’s been in his basement for 15, 16, 18 years, we go around and raise money for that. Why not do it now, and prevent that?”

Initially, the project opened up earlier in the summer. After 25 days, however, the heavy rains severely damaged the initial turf.

“We had a huge flood in mid-June, I think, and it got underneath and lifted it up and we had problems there,” Jenkins said. “We got the contractor to come in and try to stitch it back together and we just weren’t happy with the way it was going.”

For Jenkins, it’s all part of getting people active at all ages. Much of the other work his family foundation has done has been geared toward the younger demographic. This one is for people age 13 and older.

“We’ve built a number of parks and water parks, spray grounds, and skate parks for kids up to age 12 or 14 or so,” said Jenkins. “We thought, why don’t we build something for older kids and we can incorporate a health element into it by having an outdoor gym.”

The gym has a lovely few days for its opening week, with a forecasted high of 26 C Wednesday and Thursday.

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rob.mahon@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @RobMahonPxP