UPDATE 28/08/15: Gateway Community Walk cancelled
We are sorry to inform you that our Community Walk Event on Thursday 3rd September has been cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances. We will be rescheduling the Walk to a new date early next year. We apologise for any inconvenience caused and hope you will be able to participate next year.
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This year, instead of a Fun Run, we’re planning a Community Walk on Thursday 3rd September.
Everyone who’s been to a Gateway Fun Run has said they enjoyed taking part in something fun and healthy, but we feel that a Community Walk might be more accessible than a Fun Run. In previous years, although some people ran, the majority of people actually walked the route. Most used it as an opportunity to meet and chat to other people, too, so we know the event also has social benefits for the people taking part, and we’d like to build on that.
Health Trainers lead the warmup at last year’s Fun Run
Most of the people who take part in the Fun Run each year are Lighten Up and Health Trainer clients – people who want to build a healthier lifestyle – and we hope that a Community Walk will give even more people the chance to join in. The walking route we’re organising will allow people to do as much or as little as they like, to go at their own pace and maybe socialise a little along the way.
We want this to be a fun group activity that anyone can get involved with at the level they can manage, but we also want to give the people we work an opportunity to set themselves a challenge. So we’re starting to tell everyone about it now – and we’ll be helping people to prepare, and to work up to doing the full walk if they want to.
The walk will be open to anyone, so if you’d like to get involved, speak to your Health Trainer or Lighten Up Administrator – or just give us a ring here on 0121 456 7820 to register your interest.
The route
We haven’t finalised the route yet, but it’s likely to start in Kings Norton at about 11am and end at the Gateway offices in Edgbaston at about 2pm, taking in the Rea Valley and Cannon Hill Park.
GP surgeries, particularly in South Birmingham, play a big part in our work – they refer people to us and provide the space for our Health Trainers to meet with people, and we know that lots of the people we work with relate to their GPs as a community facility. So we’ll be starting the walk at Kings Norton Surgery, and we’ve asked a few other surgeries we work with if we can use them as staging posts along the route.
It should take about three hours to complete the whole walk at a steady pace, but people can just do a section of the route if they prefer. Our staff will be on hand with warm-up exercises and encouragement along the way. At the Gateway offices we’ll provide refreshments and organise transport back to Kings Norton for those who need it.
Watch this space!
We’ll be providing more information here when we have it, but in the meantime why not start warming up to take part? A little bit of walking each day is good for the body and mind. If you have a Health Trainer, let them know you want to take part in the Gateway Community Walk and they’ll help you to prepare.
In the video of last year’s Fun Run you can see how keen people were to take part at all levels. Most people walked rather than running, but all enjoyed the day out (despite the rain!)
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