Big walk for good health
In an effort to encourage communities to a good health lifestyle, the North West department of Education and Sport Development embarked on a Big Walk which consisted of a 5km Walk, 10km Fun Run and cycling activities held between Rustenburg and Phokeng Village on Saturday, 15 August 2015.
The Big Walk, which was launched by the Education and Sport Development MEC Maphefo Matsemela in 2014 at Omaramba to honour women in the Women’s Month, this year attracted over 1 000 people from across the province. Amongst the people and stakeholders who attended the event were the SAMANCOR runners, 2015 Comrade Marathon Champion Gift Kelehe, Royal Bafokeng Sports, IMPALA professional runners, Bojanala District municipality officials, different media houses, MEC Maphefo Matsemela and many officials from the department.
The objective of the department with the Big Walk is to create awareness across the province about the importance of exercising to reduce opportunistic diseases like heart attack, hypertension, obesity, etc. The games are a form of physical activity for improving the cardio-vascular system that is the heart, blood vessels and lungs.
“Our primary objective as the department is to ensure that the society at large is healthy at all times, we are having a mandate as government as sports to ensure that we keep the nation healthy. The National Sport and Recreational Plan document from the department has 3 pillars namely, ensuring that there is an active nation, healthy nation and an enabling environment. As a caring government we want to remind our communities about the importance of taking part in recreation activities.
“The former state President of the Republic of South Africa Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela said 'Sports is a unifier'. Now as a department we are excited that people from different backgrounds came together to make this day a success by participating in the fun run and also walking together. We hope that as you go back to your areas, you should continue to exercise”, said MEC Matsemela.
Gift Kelehe the Comrade Marathon Champion motivated the participants and highlighted the importance of exercising.
“Let us all take part in sports because it is very important to exercise, our body needs exercise all the time in order to avoid diseases. Currently our country has a problem of people suffering from cholesterol, hypertension, obesity, etc, due to lack of exercising. I am appealing to all members of the community to take care of their bodies as their bodies will take care of them”, said Kelehe.
The participants who finished within the top 100 in both the 5km walk and 10km fun run were awarded with certificates to recognise their participation.
Enquiries:
Elias Malindi
Cell: 072 115 4855/072 892 8399
