Fitness court, pump track and more: A look at what’s new at Patton Township’s Bernel Road Park

Before its most recent upgrade, Bernel Road Park already had an abundance of outdoor recreation opportunities for visitors to enjoy.

Pickleball, tennis, disc golf, a large playground and ample walking trails are just some of the things the park — sometimes called the “airport park” due to its proximity to State College Regional Airport — has to offer. But following the completion of the Phase 2 addition of the park, Patton Township has added more features for park-goers, including a new, state-of-the-art outdoor fitness court and two dirt pump tracks for bikes.

A grand opening was held Tuesday by Patton Township Supervisors Pamela Robb and Betsy Whitman, Township Manager Amy Farkas and Project Manager Susan Wheeler.

“We’re very proud to unveil to you today this new addition to the Bernel Road Park,” Robb said. “Our staff has put so much work into this phase and we’re very happy with how it turned out.”

Overall, the additions cost the township a total of $866,000. Of that, $280,000 was from grants awarded by the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Keystone Fund program and $30,000 were grant funds awarded by the National Fitness Campaign.

The fitness court, sponsored by the National Fitness Campaign, offers seven different stations for people to utilize. These stations are core, squat, push, lunge, pull, agility and bend, with various exercises corresponding to each station.

“For example, here at the pull station there are a number of different exercises at different levels that involve the pulling of your own body weight,” Patton Township Police Sgt. Brian Shaffer said, demonstrating. “It’s that way with every station really — body weight exercises are the main focus of this court and it can be as hard or as easy as you choose to make it.”

In addition to the seven different stations, there are also multiple pieces of exercise equipment at each station so that if more than one person was working on their “pulling” exercises, they can.

This National Fitness Campaign court is the first of its kind in Centre County, but hardly is the first in Pennsylvania. There are 20 more fitness courts located across the commonwealth, with hundreds more being found across the country.

According to the National Fitness Campaign’s website, the end goal of the campaign is to fund 5,000 free outdoor fitness courts within a 10-minute bike ride of every American by 2030.

Another new addition to the park is the two new BMX pump bike tracks. One of the tracks is smaller and geared toward younger riders, while the second track is designed for all age levels.

The tracks are just dirt and gravel now, but according to former BMX professional Ronnie Napolitan — who played a large part in the design of the tracks — that’s going to change soon.

“While we’re glad that the pump tracks have come together nicely, they aren’t finished quite yet — we’re eventually going to get them paved,” Napolitan said. “We want these tracks to be the best of the best, and to do that we need to pave them. It’s going to be a lot safer for the riders when we pave them too. While it’ll likely hurt more falling on pavement than gravel and dirt, the pavement is going to provide a lot more friction for the tires to grip, significantly decreasing the likelihood of a fall in the first place.”

Patton Township will soon start fundraising for the money to pave the tracks, with the goal of having the track paved by the end of the year, Napolitan said.

Along with the fitness court and pump tracks, some more new features at the park include additional parking, a bike repair station near the parking lot and a solar-powered charging station for phones.

The next phase of Bernel Road Park additions will include basketball courts and a pavilion, Wheeler said.

“We actually wanted to include those two additions in this most recent phase, but we didn’t get the chance to, so they’re going to be next,” she said.

Bernel Road Park, 2501 Bernel Road, is open from dawn to dusk, every day of the week.