WESTLOCK – A group of determined seniors have walked enough kilometres to equal walking across Canada.
The group travelled a total of 6658 km from February 13 to November 5.
“Our average kilometres per person were 9 km a week,” stated Judy Burns, Recreation Coordinator.
There were some walkers who exceeded that average every week.
Each person in the group would walk down every corridor in the lodge and some went further each and every day.
June Jantz walked 23 km a week. She walks to the hospital from Smithfield Lodge twice a day.
Walkers also walked over to the Giant Tiger Store and counted those steps in their weekly counts.
“Every step is important,” shared Jantz.
Georgina Fediuk averaged 18 km a week and Maxine McCann completed an average of 13 km a week.
“Health-wise it’s important to just keep moving,” stated Burns.
Jantz explained that her leg pain had improved with being part of this challenge.
Burns facilitated the tracking and milestone achievements of the group by hosting geography parties as they group surpassed kilometres to get to each capital city across the country.
Burns measured out the distance around Smithfield Lodge, back and forth to the hospital and the distance to local shops so the seniors could track their mileage weekly.
Each Tuesday the group would gather to share their weekly total distances and go for a walk to the hospital.
Maps were placed to track everyone’s progress.
“It's pretty amazing because you only do it in small steps,” commented Burns.
The group walked their way to Vancouver first and once they walked enough steps to get there, they had a party. Burns would host the event with facts about the location, food and drink from the region and everyone marvelled at the efforts Burns took to make their visits to the capital cities memorable.
The last stop was Newfoundland. The celebration included kissing the cod, drinking screech, and sharing fun facts.
The walkers received honorary Newfoundlander certificates at the event.
All the walkers were awarded Certificates of Completion for walking across Canada.
The journey doesn't end there – the walkers are already started across Europe.
