FITNESS fanatics and couch potatoes alike have been encouraged to work up a sweat on five new fitness trails.
The courses are made up of outdoor gym equipment which has been installed at recreation grounds in Cowley Marsh, Rose Hill, Hollow Way, and between South Park and Headington Hill Park.
The fifth trail runs between Blackbird Leys Park, Gillians Park and Spindleberry park.
Oxford City Council, which installed the trails, hopes more people will be able to get fit and stay fit for free thanks to the gym equipment.
They were officially opened on Friday with a series of events, including one with 16 children from Rose Hill Primary School who joined city council board member for leisure Mark Lygo in Rose Hill recreation ground.
The children’s headteacher Sue Vermes said the fitness trail was a great opportunity for them to stay healthy.
She said: “It is a fantastic thing to have here and the children really engaged with it. Anything that promotes fitness is a real boon. It’s something they can do outside school.
“It’s very important for children to get physical exercise – being ready to learn in school and being physically fit are linked.
“It is also important children are sleeping well and they will sleep better if they have had lots of exercise.
“They loved being out and using the equipment and they came back really positive having had a really good time.”
The fitness trails were funded by £255,500 from the city council and another £61,000 from funding scheme Waste Recycling Environmental Limited (WREN).
A sixth trail, funded by the Friends of Cutteslowe and Sunnymead Park and Cutteslowe Community Association, has also been installed in Sunnymead Park.
Ms Vermes said the trail was another part of the regeneration of the area.
She said: “The children are really excited about the new community centre opening up and this is something else for them to get excited about. The new community centre will have a gym.”
Each of the fitness stations has instructions explaining how to use it and some have QR codes which can be scanned with a smartphone. This will allow people to view demonstration videos on their phones.
Mr Lygo said: “Fitness trails are a fun way to get out and exercise in the fresh air, but they can also help reduce stress levels and improve mental health.
“We hope that residents, families and students from across the city will use the trails as part of their daily lives.”
Events were also held on Friday at South Park, where Oxford Brookes students were put through their paces, and at Blackbird Leys Park where Oxford United stars and their mascot Ollie the Ox completed the trail.
COMMENT
It's not pessimism. It's realism. Every single time of these 'schemes' is put in place, at great expense to the taxpayer, they're rendered useless within weeks due to vandals or apathy. Not just in Oxford - there was well-publicised damage to play equipment in Witney, and to a skate park in leafy Hanborough. For generations young people have complained about there being 'nothing to do' but when something is handed to them on a plate, they destroy it. This will be no different.
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