SPORT WALK

Sport Walk’s founder – Roger Burlinson – ponders what Sport Walking really means.

Since our inception, Sport Walk has promoted Sport Walking as being all about challenge and while challenges remain at the very core of Sport Walking – because that’s where the sport lies – we’ve increasingly been getting inspired and excited about the scope of benefits Sport Walking can offer generally, at all levels, including and especially for those who aren’t drawn to taking on walking challenges.

Gradually, we’ve come to realise that what we’ve created with Sport Walking is a strong approach that is distinctive and appeals to a far broader range of people than we’ve been targeting so far. We’ve started to realise that the way to get the world Sport Walking is not simply to promote challenge and to encourage those who get it to achieve their potential. The key is to make Sport Walking relevant to everyone.

This realisation has, it must be said, largely come about as a result of reaching out and engaging with many different people and processing their reactions. Almost unanimously, they like what they hear about Sport Walking but then they tell us how they might use a version of Sport Walking, how they might walk with greater positivity and speed in a way that works for them.

And so, we’ve had to face the question – do we stick with framing Sport Walking as just being all about challenge or do we give Sport Walking a broader definition that would allow everyone to feel that there’s an element of it that would work for them? For some, undoubtedly, challenge will remain their focus (as it is for us) but then, when I think about it, the amount of time I actually spend taking on challenges is minuscule compared to the amount of time I spend training – just simply walking fast over different distances.

So the big question for us was, can we maintain Sport Walking’s integrity and objective as being about challenge while also opening it up, so that anyone walking strongly can feel that they too are a Sport Walker and that Sport Walking is what they do, even if they don’t participate in challenges? We think we have an answer to that and we think it’s yes!

The more we thought about it, the more broadening Sport Walking’s potential (while still focusing strongly on challenges because they offer so much in personal development terms) seemed like not only the right thing to do but the best thing to do. If you lower the access point, so that more people feel like it’s something they would want to do, the greater the chance that they will (at some point) try the core thing you’re promoting.

If we stick with saying Sport Walking is all about challenges, then someone who might want to walk strongly fast but who’s not interested in taking on challenges is likely to decide it’s not for them. But if we broaden the general scope of what Sport Walking is and offer a graduated set of options that includes challenges, then they’re more likely to take up Sport Walking for what it gives them now, perhaps, trying a challenge further down the line.

So all this is, perhaps, a rather long winded way of saying that we’ve created a new broader definition of what Sport Walking is BUT…. to also say that we’re still focused on the challenge aspect because we know how powerful that can be and we think that it’s an extremely valuable carrot to dangle!

So what is this new broader definition I hear you ask? It is: ‘Walking strongly with a purpose, for fitness, challenge or adventure’. By broadening the scope of what Sport Walking can be for people, we’re immediately increasing the likelihood that they will give it a go and that, at the end of the day, is the most important thing.

This doesn’t mean that we’re watering down challenge in relation to Sport Walking though. On the contrary, challenge remains at the very heart of it! Getting fit is a big challenge, taking on an adventurous multi-day hike is a challenge. You could say that all we’re doing, is moving from a focus on ‘challenges’ to a focus on challenge itself. The key element of this new definition is ‘with a purpose’ – you’re not simply walking, you’re doing it for a reason, to achieve something and that’s really important.

In practice, nothing really will change from how it is now. We’ll continue with all our challenge related content, our advice about walking faster and more efficiently will still be at the heart of all we do and we’re forging ahead with our education resources but we’ we’ll also provide inspiration and information to those who can see the benefit simply of walking more strongly, as well as those looking for a fitness boost.

We’ve already opened up Sport Walking to those looking just to walk for fitness through our Get Fit Walking strand and by broadening our definition of Sport Walking overall, we’ll now be able to better link together all the different ways in which people can walk strongly with a purpose, whether that purpose is just to get fit, to rediscover adventure or to test themselves in some way through walking challenges.