New Westminster and Burnaby are vying for bragging rights to see who can get the most people walking in the weeks ahead.
Political leaders, health representatives, walking advocates and representatives from both cities attended a launch for the WALK30 Burnaby/New West walking challenge on Wednesday at Queen’s Park. The initiative, which runs from April 9 to May 11, is designed to inspire people to walk at least 30 minutes a day to improve their health and help rethink how people get around in the community.
“It’s just to get healthy and to get connected with your neighbourhood, to get out there and walk. It’s only half-an-hour-a day. It’s not a major cardio anything,” said Reena Meijer Drees, a member of the New Westminster Walkers’ Caucus. “It gets you connected with your neighbours, with your neighbourhood. It’s also utilitarian walking; we are trying to put the emphasis on that: Going shopping. Returning your books to the library. Walking to the bus stop. Walking to school. It’s not meant as a walking club where you get your Nordic poles out. That’s not what it’s about. It’s about walking as transportation. That’s why Walkers Caucus is behind it.”
Participants can do their 30 minutes of walking all at once or break it up throughout the day.
“A walk to the bus stop counts. If that’s only two minutes, then you only have 28 minutes left to walk,” Meijer Drees said. “The idea is to walk. It doesn’t even have to be outside. Walk up the stairs instead of taking the elevator – that counts.”
Taking part in the WALK30 Burnaby/New West walking challenge is easy to do, said Meijer Drees.
“You don’t need a pedometer, a Fitbit or anything fancy – just your watch will do or even an estimate of how many minutes. We are not counting steps – it’s minutes. All you need to do is look at your watch or cell phone before you go. If it’s two minutes to the bus, that’s all you need to know,” she said. “You type that in, log on to your tool and enter the minutes you walked that day. You can see the leaderboard – it’s live time.”
New West and Burnaby residents are invited to register online for the free challenge and track their daily walking minutes. Participants are invited to attend a wrap-up celebration on Saturday, May 12 at Edmonds Community Centre in Burnaby.
Having received funding from Fraser Heath though an Active Communities grant, the challenge builds on last year’s Walk New West Challenge. In addition to having more resources, such as a project manager and website, this year’s initiative has expanded to include Burnaby and has encouraged schools to participate.
“We would love to beat Burnaby, of course. Officially it’s supposed to be an inclusive. It’s not really a competition. It’s about getting your own ass off your couch and walking for 30 minutes a day just to get healthy,” Meijer Drees said. “So far in registration, it’s neck and neck.”
To get more details or sign up for the challenge, go to www.walkerscaucus.ca/walk30-burnaby-newwest.
“The goal is as many people as possible. If you don’t hit 30 minutes a day, just walk,” Meijer Drees said. “We want to see people out and about on the streets walking. It will make the neighbourhoods better for everybody. More foot traffic is more eyes on the street, better safety. The cars will slow down if more people show up. The stores will get more foot traffic. It just slows the pace of life down a little bit, and that’s what we all need these days.”
New Westminster held the Walk New West Challenge last year, but the WALK 30 Burnaby/New West initiatives is Burnaby’s first walking challenge.
“Both Burnaby and New West have Healthier Community Partnerships, which is partnerships between the city, the school district, Fraser Health and Division of Family Practices. The two Healthier Community Partnerships, the one in Burnaby and the one in New West, decided to apply jointly for a grant from Fraser Health to help us put on the walking challenge. The way the grant was structured with Fraser Health, if you did a joint application with two cities jointly applying, you had a better chance of getting a bigger grant,” said Margaret Manifold, a senior social planner with the City of Burnaby. “We decided to work together. It makes sense. We are next door neighbours.”
Burnaby is hoping to get 1,000 citizens and 1,000 students participating in the walking challenge.
“I think we are going to get that,” Manifold said. “I think we have something like 400 students in Burnaby signed up so far, so that’s good. With the schools, their teacher signs them up as a team and the teacher is the one who tracks the number of minutes the students are walking each day.”
Organizers hope is that the challenge will inspire residents of all ages to make more of an effort to walk during their day-to-day lives.
“So many kids get driven to school and they are growing up thinking that they need a ride everywhere they go,” Manifold said. “The five weeks is intentional because they say you need more than a month to create a habit.”
Burnaby’s acting mayor Pietro Calendino attended Wednesday’s launch, as did New Westminster Mayor Jonathan Cote. Calendino put out a bit of a challenge, suggesting Burnaby council would have more walkers than New West.
“It’s more of an individual challenge. The challenge is to get 30 minutes of walking in each day,” Manifold said. “The benefit is mainly what you get from yourself, challenging yourself to do the five-week challenge, but there is a bit of friendly competition going on.”
