A Jacksonville health center is giving seniors the chance to have their own cross-country glory later this month.
Fitness World Health Club has announced the first annual Senior Walk will be taking place on September 23rd. Ryne Turke with Fitness World says the Senior Walk is a free event and they are working to make it as big as possible and inviting the entire community to participate.
“It was kind of inspired by the idea of the success of the Jacksonville Memorial 5K/10K. So many people from the area and outside of it come out and support that great race, and there are some seniors in the area who also would like to be involved in things like that. But maybe a 5K/10K was a little too much, so we decided we are going to offer three routes for people coming up on September 23rd.
We’ll have a 1K route, which is about point six miles, we have a 3K route which is about two miles, and if you want to compete in a full 5K route, that is going to be your standard three point one miles.”
Turke says there will be a number of ways seniors can participate no matter the weather or their skill or fitness level. “You can walk, you can jog, you can run, you can do whatever you want. We’re going to have an inside course on our indoor track so you don’t have to worry about the elements. But, in two weeks we’re thinking it’s going to be pretty nice weather, so if you’d like to come out and try our outdoor track instead, we will have it all lined off for you to be ready to go.”
The walk kicks off at 8:15 am on the 23rd in conjunction with the club’s Silver Sneaker program. Turke says there will be prizes and everyone who participates will get their own runner’s bib, just like in an actual 5K run.
“The goal of this is to promote people in the community that want to be fitness conscious, they want to come out and challenge themselves, they want to try something new, but we have so many 5Ks, and 10Ks in this area, maybe if our seniors compete in this one they will have the confidence to say let’s try this one over here.
So maybe we can get some senior divisions that sign up in the area. Overall we just want to promote fitness in the Jacksonville and surrounding community and we think this is an awesome opportunity for that.”
There is no cost to participate in the event and membership to the club is not required. For more information on the Senior 5K Walk, contact Fitness World Health Club by calling 217-243-5858.