Courtown Adventure Centre fit and healthy with €120,000 upgrade
IT was a night of celebration for all at Courtown Adventure and Leisure Centre as the team welcomed the official opening of the new gym which is filled with exciting exercise equipment, purchased with the help of a €60,000 sports capital grant matched by Wexford County Council.
The gym has now been developed with a new conditioning room and some state of the art equipment including five new treadmills, two rowing machines, bikes, sandbags, cross trainers, a gauntlet sawmill, a boxing bag and jungle gym suspension straps as well as a new dual action pulley machine as well as other cardio and strength training equipment.
Minister Michael D’Arcy was on hand to open the gym and all present enjoyed refreshments after speeches and presentations.
Speaking about the Sports Capital Grand, Minister D’Arcy said that: ‘Investment in sport is a really worthwhile policy objective for government from a health point of view. Society reaps the rewards through improved health of the population, this is more important than ever with the rise in obesity.
‘It is so important to encourage people to play sport, it builds confidence, independence and promotes team building. Not only is it good for physical health but it benefits mental health too.
‘Supporting sports teams, clubs and organisations is also important to support community engagement and helps to foster strong community spirit’.
Santa Clause also came along to have a look at the new gym, and centre manager Margaret Quinn said that the event was a great success.
‘We had a great night. Thanks to Michael for opening the gym and his loyal support over the years. In his speech he thanked Wexford County Council for the match funding, and we would like to thank them as well.
‘The new equipment will be a great addition to Courtown Adventure and Leisure centre, and we hope to welcome a lot of new members in 2020 and hope our loyal customers will take great advantage of it.
‘Thanks must go to all the loyal customers over the years’.
The evening included a presentation of prizes for the annual Christmas challenge, which saw 20 fitness fanatics take part in swim challenge, gym circuits and timed race days over three weeks.
The swim challenge saw participants swim from Courtown to Arklow (21 kilometres) in the 25 metre pool, and the training took place four times a week.
‘Our sessions saw them doing a series of exercises including slam balls, squatting and throwing the new medicine balls, skipping, burning calories on the new Air Bike, skiing different distances on the new SkiErg, and lunging with the new sandbags and general circuit training culminating in a grant finale race day.
‘Great fun was had by all,’ said Margaret.