Rockhampton residents will soon be able to access free physical activity opportunities under the Rocky Active Parks (RAP) Strategy, endorsed by CQU's 10 000 Steps Office.

Scheduled to launch in early September, the strategy will deliver a six-week program of regular free activities in a number of Rockhampton parks.

The Rocky Active Parks strategy specifically aims to increase community participation in physical activity (PA) that is sunsafe.

This will be achieved by providing free sunsafe physical activity opportunities in local neighbourhood parks.

These may include: pilates, tai chi and other activities that are family focussed, including a series of hands-on sessions for parents and kids focussed on playing games.

Participation in regular physical activity has numerous health benefits including: reducing the risk of heart disease, diabetes, colon cancer, high blood pressure and obesity.

Additionally, parks are an ideal place in which to be physically active – there’s no cost involved, they can be used at any time and are generally easily accessible for most members of the community.

Queensland Cancer Funds Prevention and Early Detection Coordinator Val Wex said that while the Rocky Active Parks Strategy is about supporting Rockhampton residents to be active and using their local parks – it’s also about reminding people to be sunsafe at the same time.

The local physical activity taskforce is also pleased about this project. Physical Activity Capricornia Taskforce (PACT) Chair, Sue McCosker said: “This will also allow the community to help design a set of standards for increased use of local parks by residents. The Taskforce will then feed this information back to Rockhampton City Council”.

The RAP Strategy is a project of the Physical Activity Capricornia Taskforce (PACT), a multi-sector group of government and non-government providers including Rockhampton City Council (RCC), Queensland Cancer Fund (QCF) and Central Public Health Unit Network Rockhampton, which successfully applied for $5000 from a Queensland Health Ministerial Grant to be put towards an Active Parks Strategy.

Other Useful Info:.

Don’t forget the Queensland Cancer Fund's recommendations for skin cancer prevention:.

o Limit exposure to the sun between 10am and 3pm.

o Seek some shade.

o Slip on a shirt.

o Slop on some 30+ Sunscreen.

o Slap on a wide-brimmed hat and.

o Wrap on some sunglasses.