This year marks the 5th year for the Saskatoon Council on Aging (SCOA) Globe Walk and this year’s theme is “Going for Gold”. The purpose of this annual event is to help encourage those that are 50+ to get active throughout the winter months.
In the past, SCOA has rented space within the Martensville Athletic Pavilion (MAP); however, they were unable to do rent space this year, so the City of Martensville has decided to jump on board with the program and offer the space for free for anyone participating in the Globe Walk. In addition, Angie Reddekopp, City of Martensville Program Coordinator, has stepped up to become the Team Captain for all those participating. The role of the Team Captain is to encourage older adults to get involved and track all activity within your team before submitting it to SCOA. “We really feel like this program is a huge benefit to older adults being more active and honestly, it has taken off better than I could have ever imagined,” Reddekopp said. With a goal in mind of getting 50 members involved, Reddekopp surpassed her goal and the team is currently sitting at 80 members. “I am feeling extremely inspired by these older adults. It is amazing to see them embracing the program and getting more active. Hopefully it’s not just here, but in their homes and in their community as well,” Reddekopp added.
The program began this January and will run until April 30th and with it being an Olympic year, the goal is to “earn” medals. Counting steps can help to earn medals for your team, with 1 to 99 miles bringing in a “bronze medal”, 100 to 199 earns a “silver medal” and 200 or more wins a “gold medal” for Team Canada. “It has been really interesting here because there are a few older adults that are almost competing against one another and really pushing each other by comparing how many laps they did. There’s a little bit of friendly competition taking place which keeps them motivated and having fun.” After doing a tally for the beginning of the month, the Martensville team has already earned two ‘medals’ and is quickly on track to earning more and the team continues to grow in size. “It is really exciting and we are ‘Going for Gold’! We want to keep everyone motivated and keep providing different ideas of things they can do to keep active and living a healthier lifestyle.”
The free walk for team members takes place each Tuesday from 1pm to 2pm. If you are not already on a team and would like to participate, sign up is available at the MAP. Other popular walking times available is the Seniors Walking which takes place Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 1pm to 4pm for $2.75.
