On your marks, get set, ready, walk! These are the words that will set off hundreds of people who will lineup the streets of Middelburg on Sunday, 28 October starting at 7:30 to participate in a Big Walk event organized by the Department of culture, sport and recreation.
The 5km and 10km walks will start at Corner Hospital & Walter Sisulu Street (behind the Civic Centre) and finish in Kanonkop Stadium in Middleburg. The Big Walk event is aimed at encouraging an active and winning nation by promoting a healthy lifestyle through sport and recreational activities. Big Walk events will be held across the country on October 28 and people of all ages, races, young and old and people with disabilities are encouraged to participate in the walk. Entrance forms are available on www.mpumalanga.gov.za/dcsr and at the Steve Tshwete Local Municipality Office in Middelburg. Entry is free.
“This is a non-competitive event. It is an event for the whole family. We call upon people to come in their numbers to be part of history. We want to use the Big Walk to start a culture of exercising in the community,” says culture, sport and recreation spokesperson, Ms Sibongile Nkosi.
The benefits of the Big Walk are huge. Firstly, one of its primary objectives is to promote a healthy lifestyle among the citizenry particularly as a result of the rise of obesity and high incidence of heart attacks in society. Walking is an effective form of physical activity for improving the cardio-vascular system that is the heart, blood vessels and lungs. It is also an activity which enables the body to use large quantities of oxygen. Secondly, it is good for building social cohesion in society. Sport has a way of bringing people together and the Big Walk is no different.
Enquiries: Ms Sibongile Nkosi on 082 492 4886 or via email nkosist@mpg.gov.za