A POPULAR Queanbeyan gym is calling it quits after being hit hard by coronavirus lockdowns.

Body Basics, on the corner of Wanaissa and High Street, closes its doors today (December 3).

With declining membership and an uncertain future, owner Margaret Everett, 49, says it wasn’t financially viable to keep it going.

“I’ve lost 100 members over the past year,” Ms Everett says. “Covid hurt us badly.”

The gym – which employed 20 casual staff – opened seven years ago and at its peak had 600 members.

But after a turbulent 18 months with the pandemic, and the lockdowns that came with it, Ms Everett decided to cut her losses.

“It was always my dream to own a club, and I did that and it succeeded, but covid threw so many unknowns at us,” Ms Everett says.

“My bottom line was hurting me, my staff wanted to come back to work but I couldn’t afford to pay them, and the rent relief grant was only just enough to cover a month’s rent.”

It’s not the only setback Ms Everett has suffered, following a diagnosis of breast cancer.

In October last year, the gym instructor of more than 20 years, felt a lump in her breast while in the shower, but put off going to the doctor.

“I was too busy to go to the doctor and thought it would go away,” Ms Everett says.

“When the lump was still there two weeks later, I decided to get it checked out, and when the doctor told me it was cancer my world turned upside down.”

Ms Everett has spent much of this year undergoing treatment that included chemotherapy, a mastectomy and radiation.

“Initially they thought the lump was about 2.5cm but it ended up being a 5cm mass so I had chemo, and that shrunk it by 80 per cent,” Ms Everett says.

“Then I had a mastectomy, and a reconstruction, and then radiation to make sure it didn’t spread. It was through the second lockdown that I was receiving my radiation treatment, and two weeks after I finished – still repairing from the radiation burns – I was back at work.”

Now in remission, Ms Everett says stepping away from the business will allow her time to look after herself.

“You only have one body and one life and look after it,” Ms Everett says.

“The mental side of your health is just as important as the physical, which is why I need to step away.

“Next year I turn 50 and I plan to run 50 kilometres non-stop. I’m going to start enjoying and living my life again.”

With the closure of Body Basics gym, it’s also the end of an important chapter in the history of the building, which has housed a number of gyms over the last 40 years.

“It used to be Odd Bods gym, then Alive gym, so it’s got a huge history in Queanbeyan,” Ms Everett says.

Although the decision to close the gym is tinged with sadness, Ms Everett wanted to thank members for their loyalty over the years.

“Queanbeyan is a beautiful community, everyone is really friendly, and helpful,” Ms Everett says.

“A lot of members say the gym is their second home, which is hard to hear at the moment, and very hard to walk away from.

“People are really going to miss it.”