Into shape

Ken Johnston

Looking for a place to workout? Well soon there will be a brand new fitness centre in Rainy River.
The Rainy River Recreation Board has been working on remodeling their facility to accommodate a new fitness centre.
Rec. Director Monique Gall said the board had hoped to raise enough money at the Rainy River Walleye Tournament for the construction portion of the project, but fell a bit short. “We need about $16,000 to cover the construction costs.” The board received a $5,000 donation from the Rainy River Charitable Association’s RRWT boat raffle proceeds. Gall hopes to access some grant funding as well and has been working on an application to the Ontario Trillium Foundation.
The first phase will see about half of the open space on the main floor of the Rainy River Community Centre closed in. Eventually that room will be then expanded out into the arena where storage space is currently. Once completed the board plans to sell memberships and members will be able to access the fitness centre 24hours a day seven days a week using their club membership swipe card.
While no prices for the equipment have been obtained as of yet, plans are to have three treadmills, three bikes and one universal weight system to start. At a later date they plan to then add another universal, free weights and rowing machines.
Construction is set to begin this week with the work being done by the RRHS shop class and the new Arena Caretaker Mickey Gustafson They hope to have the first phase done by the end of November.
Gall gave Norma Blight a great deal of credit for “Really pushing for it! She is a wonderful volunteer!”