University to build new Gym at Wide Lane

The new gym will be in part of the Wide Lane sports centre.

Current VP sports development (AU president) Jonny Brooks yesterday confirmed on his blog that the university has been given £40,000 to build a new gym at Wide Lane.

This gym will fall into the standard sports membership and will therefore be open to everyone, but it seems to be aimed towards the university teams who train up at Wide Lane. Many will welcome this investment as it can currently become extremely difficult to get access to equipment in the gym at particular times of day.

The 5-7 period in the gym results in queues for every single machine, both CV and Weight. In an attempt to try and reduce these queues the gym imposed a 20 minute limit on use, but this is hard to police and is also a relatively short time to work out!! With over 500 people using the gym during the quietest periods of the week and an increase in membership this issue is obviously only going to get worse.

No time line has currently been released for when the new facility will be due to open but considering the equipment to be purchased isn’t finalised it would be fair to assume it won’t be ready until university starts next October. Hopefully SportsRec costs won’t be increased that much, as fees have already risen by almost 60% since 2007/2008!

Hopefully the gym should be a lot less packed once the new facility is up and running

For people involved in the university based sports teams this will be a huge bonus, as it is anticipated the new gym will have a better capability for teams to work out together. Unfortunately its location means for many it will be too far to use, as the inter lecture workout doesn’t quite allow for a 15minute each way journey. But anything that reduces the crazy situation that takes place right now should only be welcomed as a good thing!!!