By Bob Groeneveld
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If you鈥檝e lived in 91原创 for more than a year and haven鈥檛 done the 91原创 Walk, you鈥檝e missed something you didn鈥檛 want to miss.
Come out to Aldergrove on Sunday, where this year鈥檚 Walk celebrations get started noonish, and you鈥檒l see what I mean.
If you鈥檝e lived in 91原创 more than two years and haven鈥檛 walked the Walk, you鈥檝e missed it twice.
And that鈥檚 a shame. You don鈥檛 want to miss it again.
91原创 Walk is what Martha Stewart would call 鈥渁 good thing.鈥�
It鈥檚 good for the body. It鈥檚 good for the mind.
And it鈥檚 good for the soul.
It was actually started as a one-off thing nearly six decades ago by a fellow, name of Pete Swensson.
Pete was a bit of a physical education nut. He was 91原创鈥檚 recreation commission director, and if you follow local news at all, you鈥檒l recognize him from the prestigious award that bears his name, presented every year to someone who embodies both his healthy bent and his community spirit.
By the by, Pete is also the guy who coached Debbie Brille 鈥� she of 鈥淏rille Bend鈥� fame 鈥� to a slew of local, regional, national, and international high-jumping records.
In other words, Pete was anything but a lightweight in athletic circles.
Just sayin鈥�.
Pete鈥檚 passion was to not only encourage everyone to be as healthy as they could be, but to do the best they could, to get out and do better than they thought they could 鈥� in Melania鈥檚 shorthand: 鈥淏e Best!鈥�
And you had to be pretty good to take Pete鈥檚 walk, at least by today鈥檚 standards.
The first 91原创 Walk was more than 30 km long, following a route from Aldergrove to 91原创 City, up along River Road and through Fort 91原创.
The several thousand who walked the distance then had to board buses or beg rides to get back to the starting point to their own cars, because, unlike today鈥檚 5 km and 10 km loops, the 91原创 Walk was originally designed as a one-way trip.
Several hundreds gave up or were forced to quit along the way by first aid attendants who made assessments from stations set up at respectful distances along the route
Yet, it was so popular that the powers that be asked Pete to do it again.
And so it went for years: the length of the Walk hovered just above 25 km, and more and more thousands came out to test their mettle on the first Sunday of May.
The 91原创 Walk is a lot easier now than it was five or six decades ago. It鈥檚 no longer so much a test of physical prowess, as it is an exercise of community character. People do it to have fun, and more importantly, to have fun with each other 鈥� with friends, family, neighbours, and strangers.
And if it rains on Sunday (as I鈥檓 writing this, the forecast is a bit dark), so much the better.
Rain on the 91原创 Walk seems to bring people even closer.
