‘I’m excited to be back here:’ Residents thrilled Crestwood Recreation Centre is back open

When the facility was open, the Crestwood recreation facility was the place the couple would go to get fit.

” The water is fantastic for me, and yeah before the pandemic I was here all the time,” said Lexvold.

Now that Crestwood is back up and running, the couple says it will not only help them have a more consistent fitness regime but others in the community.

” When there are more obstacles to get to the activity that you need to do, you find lots of excuses not to do it. So this will improve the health of the neighborhood too,” Slaughter said.

Over at the fitness centre, gym-goers are also thrilled to be back. Tom Thompson says Crestwood was part of his daily fitness routine.

“I had an injury about three years ago in my back I had myelitis. So part of my therapy was going to the Crestwood pool and I did pool therapy, and with a physiotherapist did weight therapy as well,” he said.

With gym closures province-wide during the pandemic, Thompson says much of his therapy had to be done at home. But he says the Crestwood Recreation Centre offers certain perks that are hard to get elsewhere.

” The atmosphere is excellent. It is very low-key. No one tries to impress anybody else. They are just here to put on a few bits of muscle, or lose a few pounds and get in shape,” he said.

Back in December, council voted to allocate funding in their budget to reopen the centre. Since then, the city has been working around the clock to get the facility ready for people to enjoy.

“Our swimmers were there at 6 a.m. so that was great. Our fitness area had lots of activity. We are home to Medicine Hat’s only Raquette Ball court so that is available for the public to use as well. We were excited to see that both our back-to-back aquafit classes were full so we are actually looking to increase the size of those from 20 to 25 tomorrow,” said James Will, director of parks and recreation.

Currently, the facility is open from 6 a.m. to 1 p.m. from Monday to Friday.

The city will be initiating a survey for users to determine suitable hours of operation.

As for Thompson, he has nothing but praise for the move to reopen the facility and he is looking forward to spending more days getting in shape.

” What I do today is for tomorrow so I am excited and I am really encouraged that this facility is back open again and I very much thank the mayor for that,” he said.

by Tiffany Goodwein

‘I’m excited to be back here:’ Residents thrilled Crestwood Recreation Centre is back open

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