Healthy city, healthy bodies

Geelong fitness trainer Steve (Stoofa) Lewry has seen more sunrises over Corio Bay than most people, and he never gets sick of the view. He holds his group fitness workouts along the Geelong waterfront, starting at Eastern Beach near the new Edgewater apartments.

“The views are second to none,” Mr Lewry says. “I train in the early morning because part of my job is to get people out of bed. You achieve nothing if you lie in bed all day. I tell them, ‘you’ve paid your rates for this view, come and enjoy the sunrise’.”

His Stoofa’s Fitness Company offers personal training at his gym in town, but seven mornings a week at six o’clock Mr Lewry puts groups of up to 30 participants through their paces on the waterfront.

His clientele is varied and the workouts can be adapted for individuals. “I call it urban fitness,” he says. “We do cardio work, strength training and core exercises, but we don’t use tools or equipment; we just use everything around us.”

Mr Lewry’s training ground can cover up to several kilometres of the city waterfront. “We start outside the Edgewater apartments and then we go around, using all areas. We go into the Botanical Gardens. It’s about people getting the best out of their abilities and having fun while they’re doing it.”

The City of Greater Geelong, as well as offering outdoor spaces where people can nourish their health, initiates and supports many events and activities across all age groups as part of its Geelong Strategic Health Plan.

Local community events include the Victorian Seniors Festival Geelong, the Alcoa Celebrate All Abilities Festival, Children’s Week, an annual corporate games triathlon, Geelong Kids Tryathlon, World’s Greatest Pram Stroll and the Playgroup in the Park program.

Last year the Victorian Seniors Festival in Geelong attracted 12,500 people to 116 events during October.

The city is assisting with the establishment of three “Men’s Sheds” – which encourage men who have retired or who are unable to work to share skills and knowledge – at Norlane, St Leonards and Whittington.

With the GP Association of Geelong, the City has promoted Active Adult programs at leisure centres, resulting in a growth in senior gym memberships from just 57 in July 2006 to 705 by November 2007.

It is also investing in a range of new infrastructure developments. One of the most significant is a $31 million aquatic and gymnasium complex, to be constructed in Pioneer Park at Waurn Ponds. It is expected to be operational by next summer.

Dean Frost, the City’s general manager of community infrastructure and recreation, says the development is designed to cater to the needs of Geelong’s growing population. It will feature an indoor 50-metre pool, a dedicated learn-to-swim pool, a hydrotherapy pool and a range of swimming facilities for children and toddlers.

“There will also be significant activity features including water slides and an adventure park for children,” Mr Frost says. “That will be constructed within a winter garden setting that can be heated in the cooler months. The area’s fabric roof covering will retain warmth when needed, but also provide shade in summer.”

The complex will also include a large gymnasium, an aerobics area, group exercise facilities, a crèche and a wellness centre where visitors can access physiotherapists and massage services.

“It is being built partly to replace an outdated existing facility at nearby Belmont,” Mr Frost says. “It is also being built here, and on a large scale, to match our regional focus and cater for a growing need.”

The young people of Geelong now have a specially built youth precinct on the eastern beach foreshore that provides a skate park and leisure area.

They also participate in and organise their own arts event at the ‘Potato Shed’ Bellarine Multi-Arts Facility in Drysdale as well as the Courthouse Youth Arts Centre.

The very young are also catered for. More than 110 early-childhood services are members of the state government’s Kids – ‘Go for your life’ project, and 189 Geelong-region community agencies and funding bodies are listed as partners within the ‘Healthy Beginnings Strategy’.

There are also a number of projects and strategies in the City of Greater Geelong aiming to foster positive attitudes to active transport, including a cycle strategy, ‘walking school bus’ initiatives, the Walking More Walking Safely program and Ride and Walk to School day promotions.