Much like your tires, it’s time to rotate our four treadmills in the fitness centre. “But why?” you ask. Interestingly enough, people are drawn to certain treadmills over others even though they are exactly the same model and age. The most popular ones are the outside two, with the southernmost one leading the pack with 6,027 km since we opened in February this year. The total kilometres for all the treadmills for the past 10 months rings in at just over 16,000, and the outermost ones average double the use of the inside two. That’s like running from Creston to Halifax and back twice! As far as the psychology of why people choose certain treadmills over others, we are still doing the investigative journalism.
We also have recumbent bikes by the fitness track, which are a stationary bike that you sit comfortably back on. These generate way more kilometres than the treadmills because, obviously, you get where you are going way faster because you are on a bike. Average weekly use might see 110-160 km on a bike, with one great week ringing in over 2,800 km for both bikes. Fascinatingly enough (assuming you are fascinated or interested in any of this), we had the highest spike immediately following Halloween in bike and treadmill usage. My theory is that this is a post-sugar rush reaction of remorseful parents sneaking chocolate bars and candies from their kids Halloween treat bags.
Intriguingly enough, we have also found the number of people who are post-operative utilizing our facility has increased — knee, hip, back and heart surgeries, to mention a few. We have found they are coming very regularly and are working very hard to ensure a speedy recovery, as well as finding a positive support system with those in the same situation. (It also doesn’t hurt that we have super friendly staff up there…)
You should have picked up our new leisure guide from your mailbox this past day or two and the first thing you’ll notice is the new format. Apart from being smaller and more energy efficient, the better paper stock really shows off the photos along with easier-to-read fonts. (If I had a nickel every time someone said to me “If only you were from better stock…”) Now we start on the facility guide, which will contain all the regular info for an entire year and then back into the next program guide for the spring. Let us know what you think of the new format, and don’t forget you can also see it online at www.rdck.bc.ca/creston.
Neil Ostafichuk is the recreation supervisor at the Creston and District Community Complex.