The Fitness Centre at the Davidson Communiplex is in the process of pumping up its offerings to members while also working out some strains along the way.

Trevor Ouellette, recreation director for Davidson, said two new LifeSpan TR5000 treadmills and one Spirit Fitness elliptical trainer were installed at the Fitness Centre last Tuesday. He said the town has also ordered matting to finish rubberizing the whole floor at the gym.

“This gives us decent quality equipment that our members can use,” said Ouellette, noting memberships had been in decline for a while, but are now staring to come back up and currently stand at 18. “It’s just (getting) things in order to get our membership up and provide a quality workout area.”

Ouellette said the new heavy-duty equipment cost the town $9,000 to install, while the new matting came with a price tag of $1,700. He said the snag with putting in the upgraded equipment is they are drawing too much power, so some additional electrical work has to be done.

“The (charge) draws too much because the plug-ins along the one wall are all off one breaker, so when you plug more than one in it blows the breaker,” he said, noting this should cost an additional $600 to $1,000 to fix. Ouellette said these expenses are going to be coming out of the 2014 budget.

Blair Frederickson, a Fitness Centre member since last November, said the Davidson gym is a great way for him to get a good workout and especially so because of its location near Davidson School where he works as a career guidance councillor. He said the free weights and benches are the main things he takes advantage of, but does appreciate the variety of equipment available.

“It’s nice to have a gym in town where instead of me having to put out the expense of having to buy all the equipment and put in my own basement and then have my wife going ‘well you smell really bad’ to come to the gym here and work out,” said Frederickson. “The new treadmills are nice. I’m an outside runner, but in winter (and) especially when it’s really cold that’s something I’ll take advantage of and use.”

Ouellette said the other project in the works for the gym is fixing their front door where cold and ice has lifted a pad up and the kick plates and jams are getting off-kilter. He said it takes a bit of “finessing” to open and close the doors now, but once that is fixed the gym upgrades should be completed.

“We may get a vast number of (new) memberships and have to increase our equipment,” he said, “but right at this time there is nothing in the works other than what has already been planned.”

Grade 5 students at Davidson School are increasing their energy awareness this winter by taking part in the Classroom Energy Diet Challenge competition.

The group of 24 kids began the Shell and Canadian Geographic presented online contest Feb. 5 under their team name “The Unshushables” when each member of the class chose an individual energy-themed and curriculum-linked challenge to complete. Each of these challenges help the students learn about diverse energy issues giving them the ability to then share that knowledge with their school and community to try and increase wider energy awareness.

“I did the one where you have to go a hour without power,” said Cheya O’Brien, 10. “You have to deal with no power and can’t run your computer or turn on lights. Researching it is cool and mine is fun.”

The “One Hour No Power” challenge gives a student an opportunity to identify and report on the difficulties and changes to their school life without power. It also explains to them why and how they can reduce their energy use and understand why reducing energy consumption is important.

Erika Warkentin, 10, said she chose to complete the “Water Works” challenge, which involves determining and discussing their daily water use, identifying strategies and initiatives for reducing water use while actually working to accomplish this.

“I have to do research into things like how much water is in a cotton t-shirt and stuff like that,” said Erika, adding this is important because reducing water waste in washes helps the environment.

Davidson School Grade 5 teacher Paul Stinson said these challenges and the Energy Diet competition helps him to try things he might not try otherwise to bring a student’s learning beyond the regular readings and tests. He said this contest is giving his students a chance to practise basic skills while also letting them do something that affects the community they live in.

“There are 25 challenges and 24 students, so they each have a chance to take on a leadership role by learning about their project and deciding which of the three versions of the project to do,” said Stinson, noting each version has a point total that can be put towards winning prizes. “There is classroom-based, school-based or community-based (versions) and the community-based is going to impact the most people, so it is the one with the most points. It would get them talking to the media for example or some of the projects would involve communicating with the town and the mayor.”

Stinson said the kids are excited about the chance of winning prizes, but that is not the point of taking part in the contest. He said completing these projects matches what they are covering in school this year, plus it’s something “fun” for the kids to do.