Tauranga marks decade on its feet

LOVING IT: One of the City on its Feet walking groups based in Tauranga. Photo/supplied

Walking group captains from the past decade will converge at Tauranga's Historic Village this evening as City on its Feet celebrates its 10-year anniversary with a wine and cheese evening.

The success of City on its Feet is testament to all the captains, past and present, who have continued to passionately manage and organise their walking groups.

City on its Feet took its first step on October 20, 2005 as a joint initiative between Sport Bay of Plenty, Tauranga City Council, Sport NZ, ACC and the BOPDHB with the ethos of more people enjoying walking more often.

In the first three years of the programme, two walking co-ordinators were based at Sport Bay of Plenty to support existing walking groups and aid in the establishment of new ones.

Since then hundreds of weeks have passed and thousands of members have laced up, collectively walking more than 1 million kilometres.

What began as a couple of groups in 2005, has ballooned to a timetable covering more than 25 weekly sessions encompassing numerous Tauranga suburbs.

The Fraser Cove walking group is typical of many of the City on its Feet walking groups - around 20 walkers meet once a week to get their "fix".

This fix doesn't just include going for a walk, but also a coffee and muffin afterwards.

"We used to meet in the avenues at a different place but they didn't have very good coffee. "Since we've based ourselves down here we've literally doubled our numbers. "I put it all down to the coffee," says captain Mike.

The inclusive nature of City on its Feet means no one is left behind and everyone knows the local short cuts or longer loops that can be done to change the walk it needs be.

New City on its Feet members are always welcome -a great place to start is www.sportbop.co.nz/cityonitsfeet which has timetables, newsletters and captains' contact information.