A group of 51 elderly people from Martorell and two sports technicians from the City Council took part this Tuesday in L’Hospitalet de Llobregat in the first of the outings of the new Cycle of Walks for the Elderly. The walkers have traveled eight kilometers through urban terrain and have shared a table. There they met elderly people from the other municipalities with whom they will share walks this year: l’Hospitalet de Llobregat, Copons and Navarcles.
The Martorell expedition traveled by coach to the riverside city to meet the participants from the other three towns. There they had breakfast and did a warm-up before the walk, of about eight kilometers and of low difficulty, through emblematic points of the city. “The weather has been favorable to them, since it hasn’t rained and it hasn’t been very cold”, as the local manager of the cycle of walks, Enric Gotsens, explains.
Enric Gotsens, responsable martorellenc del Cicle de Passejades
At the end of the route at the Municipal Sports Center “they shared a fraternity lunch and dance activities before returning to Martorell”.
Enric Gotsens, responsable martorellenc del Cicle de Passejades
The new season has 86 participating municipalities, distributed in groups of four, which make an identical number of meetings or exchanges, so that each plays host to the walk it has to organize in its end. This year, Martorell has been paired “with Hospitalet de Llobregat (Barcelonès), Navarcles (Bages) and Copons (Anoia)”.
Enric Gotsens, responsable martorellenc del Cicle de Passejades
Gotsens details the calendar of the upcoming trips: “The next one will be the one we do in Martorell, and it is already scheduled for February 26, 2025. The third will be in Copons on March 18, and the last one in Navarcles on the 1st “April”.
Enric Gotsens, responsable martorellenc del Cicle de Passejades
Again, the joint meeting will mark the end of the season: “It is not yet defined where or when it will be, but it is expected to take place in three days and during the first or second week of May 2025”.
More than twenty years promoting sport, health and well-being of the elderly
He Cycle of Walks for the Elderly is a project of the Diputació de Barcelona that has the complicity of more than 80 town councils in the province, which organize their groups of participants. It was born in 2001 to promote and energize physical activity and exercise among older people as a tool to improve physical and mental health and favor interpersonal relationships, as well as the socialization of participants.
On the other hand, the aim is to promote active aging and, therefore, the improvement of the quality of life of citizens, and to make the territory known in a way adapted to its possibilities. With this idea, gentle and affordable routes are designed along forest tracks or mountain paths and distances of between 8 and 10 kilometers.
Since the 2017-2018 season, it has opted for the introduction of Nordic walking in the project – modality to which Martorell is attached – and more and more municipalities are following suit.
Last year, 4,346 people from 85 municipalities participated, who closed the season with a great meeting on May 7, 8 and 9 in Les Franqueses del Vallès.
Source: martorelldigital.cat
