If you celebrate the Christmas Holiday season at all and like to give gifts this time of year, you may be wondering what you could get the Sport Walker in your life. Sport Walkers will want to choose the big ticket items themselves, so they meet their specific needs and that kind of rules out new shoes, a high performance vest or waterproofs etc, unless of course you’ve been getting big hints!
We’re talking stocking fillers then (or should that be compression sock fillers), so here are a few suggestions for some really useful gifts at the lower end of the cost scale, which should delight or at the very least be really useful. Some might be UK specific but if they seem like a good idea, you may be able to find something similar wherever you are in the world.
*Important – we’ve used photos of products we own in this article, to stay on the right side of copyright law, so don’t think the images here are the actual items we’re suggesting, you can use the links in each segment to find examples.
OS Maps
This would be top of our list if we didn’t already have one! An annual subscription to Ordnance Survey’s digital service costs around £35 and the value you get out this app is immense, in terms of being able both to plot routes to follow as well as downloading maps to have an offline version if signal isn’t good where you’re walking.
With a single annual subscription, you get the entire OS Maps range on your phone, tablet and desktop with detail down to 1:25k scale. There’s also an augmented reality option within the app, so you can identify mountain peaks on the skyline or other features in the landscape and there’s a huge array of user routes uploaded by others that you can follow, opening up a world of trails to go Sport Walking on.
While digital mapping isn’t a substitute for being able to read a physical map and knowing how to use a compass from a safety perspective, being able quickly to check your direction of travel against your planned route on the app in your phone is invaluable, especially when you’re moving at speed, as you do when Sport Walking. It’s also a hell of a lot easier to read and interrogate than minimalist route information on a watch!
If you want to test the app before you buy for a gift, you can sign up for a seven day free trial yourself here on the OS Maps site.
Soft Flasks
Soft flasks have revolutionised hydration on the fly and are, in our humble opinion, an absolute essential for any Sport Walker. They reduce the weight you need to carry when you start out, compared to a bladder system and are a hell of a lot easier to refill in a challenge.
There are lots of different varieties and sizes, so there’s an option for everyone but the humble 500ml flask, regardless of whether it has an extension tube to the mouthpiece or not will always be a staple of any kit list.
Sport Walkers will always benefit from several pairs of soft flasks, so that there’s one pair in use, one drying after being cleaned and another pair in the cupboard ready to go. This means, that you can never really have too many and so they make a superb small gift that will always be appreciated.
Flasks can start from under £10 at outlets like Decathlon or Precision Fuel & Hydration (where you can also source drinks to put in them) and all the main trail running brands make them or have their own versions of them. We particularly like flasks from Salomon because in our experience they have a really solid and effective screw top that doesn’t leak. We also like flasks from Raidlight, mainly because they have a 600ml version, so you can get another 200ml of fluids per pair and you can also get a version with the mouthpiece extension tube, which can make taking quick sips even easier.
Head Torch
A head torch is a piece of compulsory equipment for any organised challenge and you should never venture out on your own personal challenges without one, if you’re likely to be tickling dusk. But of course that just covers the use of head torches as a safety back up, we like to think that they can be more useful than that.
This time of year is perfect for trying or practicing walking at night because you don’t need to stay out late. It’s also the case that if you’re walking regularly in training or just to improve your fitness, you’ll most likely be doing it after work in the dark, so a head torch is a great addition both to improve your vision and, also, your visibility to motorists if you have to walk in built up areas with little or no lighting.
You can get all sorts of different models and sizes but for Sport Walking, opting for a battery powered model (rather than a rechargeable one) is the best way to go. For an organised challenge event, you will have to have spare batteries, so a head torch that just recharges is out of the question.
You can get models where you can swap out the rechargeable battery pack for AAAs but these are often more expensive and, to be brutally honest, a simple AAA battery powered head torch from a reputable brand without any clever features, is all you need.
You simply want a model with two or three different brightness modes, so you can adjust the beam strength down to help your peripheral vision and look for a good run time that’s going to last for the whole night, as most will.
We particularly like Black Diamond head torches but Petzl, Silva and LED Lenser are other good options. Check out the different options at Cotswold Outdoor and Decathlon.
Utility Belts
One of the best inventions in activity clothing has been the conversion of the belt area or the top band around shorts into load carrying space but if your shorts or trousers don’t have this feature built in, then a utility belt or band is a great addition.
Usually, they’re just a simple thin elasticated loop with stretch pockets around them. There’s normally a large pocket at the back for your phone, a pocket on the front and then a couple of smaller pockets on the sides. Some also have elasticated pole loops so you can stash your poles when you don’t need them.
We love our shorts with these pockets built in but in the winter, when we tend to switch to trousers, we’re at a loss where to put things. If you put your phone in a back pocket or your trousers, you can get rather nasty ‘bum chafing’ as you walk along, so slipping a utility band over the waist of the trousers, leaves all the trouser pockets free and allows us to put phones, keys and anything else we need around the waist, where they’re held still for the duration.
Many manufacturers now produce these utility belts but we can particularly vouch for Salomon, having used theirs extensively. Decathlon are also another good bet for this.
Soft drinking cup
Many organised challenge events now require participants to use their own drinking cups when taking water or other drinks from feed stations, in order to cut down on the waste generated by these events.
This means that having your own soft cup is a really good idea, even if it’s not something you’re going to use day in day out. So if someone in your life is planning to take on an organised challenge in the future, getting them a soft cup is a really nice gift.
But although their primary use is for organised events, they’re still useful at other times. You might want to carry one to scoop water from a stream to poor over your head in heat or to take water from a drinking water tap on a national trail, so having one collapsed in your vest as useful backup will always be worthwhile.
As with everything else, most brands have them but here’s a link to Salomon’s Speed Cup to get you started.
Head band
Last but not least, another great stocking filler is the trusty headband, snood, buff or whatever you like to call it. These are great for Sport Walking any time – they’re warm enough to keep the chill off your head in winter and are also great for soaking up sweat in the summer (choose a thin one for that).
They’re also very useful to take wrapped around your wrist as both a sweat mop and to soak in water and place over your neck when it’s hot. Rather like the soft cup, head bands have more uses than just their intended purpose, making them great gifts and, let’s face it, you can never have too many, as you can end up using them frequently and you’ll want to have one on the go and one in the wash at least.
Buff are the main brand most people know but there are ‘snood’ type bands available in almost any high street outdoors store. We also like the single skin headbands from Raidlight, as they save you having to try and fold a ‘snood’ down to size.
So, there you are, a few small gift ideas to put a smile on the face of your favourite Sport Walker this season!
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