Parcourse Gone From Rock Creek Park

Communism. Pay phones. Roger Clemens‘ reputation. The dustbin of history’s getting mighty full.

It’s gonna have to make room for the Rock Creek Park Parcourse, though. The remnants of the ’70s fitness icon were piled in a flatbed trailer this morning, with nothing but fresh holes in the ground to remind one of exercises like the Leg Lift and the Calf Raise.

At one point, according to this article from Outside, there were nearly 4,500 Parcourses installed in American parks. They bloomed with the first blush of fitness chic in the ’70s, when people like Jim Fixx succeeded at making what was once the province of “health nuts” de rigueur. But home exercise equipment and well-equipped urban gyms knocked outdoor courses from fashion—a shame, because exercising outside is a wonderful way to get and stay in shape.

Still, I ride through Rock Creek Park every morning, and I’ve only seen one guy ever using the Parcourse. It wasn’t Wemple, though he says he liked to do pullups at the Parcourse station just south of the Massachusetts Avenue NW bridge, so I guess he’s gonna have to go elsewhere.

I’ve called and e-mailed the National Park Service’s National Capital Region for comment and haven’t heard back; I’ll update when I do.

UPDATE 5 P.M.: Man, what does it take to get a call back from the freakin’ feds? I have never successfully gotten a call returned from NPS.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 30th, 2008 at 11:57 am and is filed under Fitness, Rock Creek Park. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.