By Amanda Ensinger
Staff Writer
Prairie Township wants residents to focus on their health and spend time with family. The community center will offer winter activities to help citizens meet those needs.
Among the new activities this season is an event aimed at showing residents different activities they can do indoors.
“We will be hosting an indoor duathlon on Feb. 10 at the community center,” said James Gant, director of the Prairie Township Community Center. “The event will be similar to a triathlon, but participants will be doing two activities instead of three.”
Participants will be continually running on treadmills and biking on stationary bikes throughout the event.
“There will be time limits for each activity and participants will be scored based on how far they go in the time periods,” Gant said. “Scores will then be totaled at the end of the event.”
The event will take place in three segments from 7:30 to 8:45 a.m., 8:50 to 10:05 a.m. and 10:15 to 11:30 a.m. During each segment of the event eight total people can participate.
The cost to participate is $30 if you register before Feb. 9 and $35 if you register after that date.
“There will be no prizes for places, but all participants will get a nice travel cup,” Gant said. “We also think this will be a great opportunity to give people an option for exercising inside during colder weather. This also is great for people who like participating in triathlons or marathons, but don’t like running outside in the winter.”
Among the other returning activities taking place at the community center this winter includes an upcoming CPR and first aid class. This will take place from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Feb. 2.
“We have staff that need trained, so we decided to open up this event to the public as well,” Gant said. “We regularly get phone calls asking if we offer these classes, so thought this was a great opportunity to help community members get the training they need.”
Gant said several occupations require employees to have CPR and first aid training, as well as several volunteer positions. According to Gant, everyone from coaches to boy scout leaders needs this training, so opening it up to the community made sense.
Other additional activities going on at the community center this winter include a Father/Daughter Date Night, Cardboard Drive-In Movie and Mother/Son Adventure Night.
The Father/Daughter Date night will take place from 6 to 8 p.m. on Feb. 9. The cost for the event is $28 for a resident couple, $31 for a nonresident couple and $10 for each additional child.
“This event is really special. Daughters and dads get dressed up and have a wonderful evening together,” Gant said. “There is dancing, some type of entertainment and dinner.”
This year organizers are hoping to offer dance lessons for dads and daughters.
The Cardboard Drive-In Movie takes place from 6 to 8:30 p.m. on Jan. 25. The cost for the event is $7 for residents and non-residents.
During this event, families build their own cardboard cars and then sit in them and watch a movie.
Finally, the Mother/Son Adventure Night will take place at 6 p.m. on March 8. Details for this event are still being finalized, including pricing, but in previous years the event has included nerf gun fights between moms and sons, athletic games and dinner.
For more information on events happening at the Prairie Township Community Center, visit www.prairietownship.org.
