Students, such as mass communication junior Diego Ramirez, will be able to use new cardio equipment the University Recreation building (UREC) in Edinburg will receive at the end of October.
“I like to go to the REC pretty often and sometimes, occasionally, in certain hours, a lot of equipment is being used and it’s good to know that they’re trying to solve that for anyone who likes doing cardio,” Ramirez said. “I’m sure that’s really good news.”
He hopes UREC finds a way to organize the new equipment because of crowding issues inside the building.
“As it is, some areas of the REC are really congested because they already have plenty of equipment,” Ramirez said. “I’d almost say in some areas too much for the space and it gets a little congested, so I just hope maybe they have a good way or, like, organizing getting new machines just so that everyone isn’t, like, bumping into each other and everything.”
UREC Director Kimberly Rottet said the department will receive about 20 new cardio machines to replace older ones that have been there for about 10 years.
“We’ll be keeping a couple of pieces that are currently there but most of the equipment will go to surplus,” Rottet said in an interview with The Rider last Wednesday. “Equipment has life cycles and spans and we’ve been fortunate that our maintenance team here, our students and our professionals have done a very good job over the last 10 years or so taking care of the equipment. That’s why it’s lasted as long as it has.”
UREC will receive a variety of ellipticals, StairMasters, recumbent and upright bikes, according to UREC Fitness and Wellness Coordinator Fay Kennan.
Asked if the department received additional funding to buy the equipment, Rottet replied, “We didn’t receive any money from anything. It’s not grant money or anything like that. … Every year, we have a small capital budget and we are able to use that, but then pull from the reserves for the rest of it so that we can just do this in one fell swoop.”
The stretching area on the second floor will be moved to a different location in the UREC building to provide space for the new equipment, according to Rottet.
On Oct. 28, UREC will remove, reposition and reorganize equipment on the second floor and the following day, the new cardio machines will be delivered, according to an email sent to The Rider on Oct. 15.
“I don’t anticipate we’ll need the entire two full days,” Rottet said. “But, you know, maybe three, maybe four days of just kind of shifting some things around but, obviously, the recreation center will still be open and as we clear pieces off the, like, once they’ve been completely assembled and they’ve been checked off the list from a safety perspective, then we can add them online and people can use them. So, you know, we’ll obviously try to be pretty quick and efficient about it.”
Rottet recommends that the university community abide by any signs that might be posted around the building.
“Our custodial crew is really awesome,” she said. “So, they’re going to address some time and some of their routines to help us get the carpet clean so everything is dry and ready the next day for delivery and then we can just kind of get everything set, so I would just say, abide by any signage and of any, you know, of the caution tape. And other than that, just [for] them to be excited because there’s a lot of new
gear coming.”
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