Blaine Senior Center fitted with a new exercise machine

Blaine Senior Center director Kathy Sitker and Blaine-Birch Bay Park and Recreation District 2 commissioner Richard Sturgill test out the NuStep T5 recumbent cross-trainer. The equipment was delivered on March 17. Photo courtesy of Richard Sturgill.

By Stefanie Donahue

Wait times at the Blaine Senior Center gym were cut considerably last week thanks to the addition of the NuStep, a highly prized recumbent cross-trainer.

The senior center purchased the equipment with funding received through a community support program sponsored by the Blaine-Birch Bay Park and Recreation District 2.

In all, the center received $6,069 to purchase the equipment, said commissioner Richard Sturgill.

The Blaine Senior Center exercise facility already contains two NuStep machines, but they were in high demand and caused long wait times, Sturgill said. After Blaine Senior Center director Kathy Sitker expressed a need for an additional machine, Sturgill approached the board of directors with the funding proposal.

“A huge thank you to the Blaine-Birch Bay Park and Recreation District 2 for including us in the 2017 community program support,” Sitker said. “This program purchased the NuStep T5 recumbent cross-trainer and allows us to serve more seniors striving to maintain their health and fitness, or as NuStep says, ‘transforming lives.’”

The machine arrived on March 17 and replaced one of the center’s treadmills, which was donated to the Lynden Senior Center.