New fitness and obstacle course on the Höxberg

The new highlight for free outdoor training has now been opened and tested.
Athletes can train balance, dexterity, power, coordination and fitness on 7 calisthenics modules.

The new fitness and obstacle course enables all sports enthusiasts, young and old, to start the anniversary year in a sporty way. "Everyone can train here free of charge and in the fresh air, whether in a group or alone," said Mayor Michael Gerdhenrich at the opening, summarising the benefits of the new calisthenics facility.

Representatives from numerous organisations as well as from politics and administration inspected and tested the system together.

While the rapeseed blossom in the background provided a fantastic backdrop, in the foreground people were eagerly swinging or balancing and exercising their muscles. The publicly accessible facility made of weatherproof stainless steel replaces the former trim trail on a 1.2 kilometre route. Panels explain the various ways in which the slackline, abdominal trainer, bars etc. can be used. Just like the facility in the Roland district, which has existed since 2020, this facility was also manufactured by the company CustomBars.

Marc Suerbier from CustomBars shows the various possible uses and is obviously not doing this for the first time.

Mayor Michael Gerdhenrich also tested the new devices immediately.

Costs and funding
The state of North Rhine-Westphalia is contributing around 35,000 euros towards the costs, totalling around 86,000 euros (equipment and construction).

The funding could only be realised thanks to the pooling of interests by the Warendorf District Sports Association. The district sports association had a total of 500,000 euros available from the programme and decided to distribute this money equally among all municipalities. Frank Schott from the district sports association emphasised at the opening: "There are a particularly large number of elements here - 7. The facility was also built very quickly." And this despite the hillside location, which provides a fantastic view when playing sports in the right weather.

The redesign of the eastern Hellbachtal in Neubeckum is a flagship project from the integrated urban development concept (ISEK) for Neubeckum, which was developed in 2020. It states that the eastern Hellbachtal should be redesigned as a leisure and recreational area for all age and user groups, taking into account aspects such as accessibility, climate protection and climate adaptation. The implementation of the measures goes hand in hand with a legally required ecological redesign of the Hellbach. Planning has been underway since mid-2023.

Further information can be found here.