Eric Hung

Review of North Vancouver Recreation Com...

Nice new facility. For a community rec centre the...

Nice new facility. For a community rec centre the gym is pretty good, nice and wide open with plenty of cardio machines and large olympic lifting area. It s the best public gym on the North Shore and for the price of admission good value compared to the private name brand gyms.

The pool is nice, decent kids area with sloping shallow end for the little ones and a river area for the older ones. My biggest complaint is the lack of Lane swimming times. Since there are a lot of lessons, swim clubs and public swim (when the diving boards are open) and the lane swimming shares this space, there are only a few hours a day there are more than two lanes for laps. The lap swimming etiquette of the users is poor at best so if you re a decent swimmer trying to get a workout in, definitely make sure you find the times when there are 4-6 lanes available.

The change rooms are interesting, lots of options from private shower stalls to a family or unisex change room which have private stalls as well. Great when not busy but hits capacity during busy times and you have to wait. Not sure why they used certain materials as some are rusting after being open less than a year.

There are some quirky aspects such as having to park underground, go up to the 2nd floor to sign in then go back downstairs for the gym and pool, but 1st world problems. Parking can be an issue during peak times, I ve had to circle and hover for spots on more than one occasion. Staff are great, I went to this gym more than a hundred times last year and didn t have a single bad experience.