Winning is not important, but about sixty elderly people were completely in front of Breda on Friday during the annual walker race. Pushing, pulling and shuffling, they filled the set course. The event was the closing of the ‘pampering and care week’ that is organized every year by committed entrepreneurs Breda (BOB). “Actually everyone is a little champion.”
Stan, Bep and Corry are waiting outside for sports hall De Kragt in the sun. The warm-up is over and with regard to the seniors the walker race can begin. “I am completely ready,” says Stan, who wants to win best. Corry, leaning on her walker, also lurks on a high ranking: “As training, I walked a block of half an hour every day.” Bep has, like most participants, a different purpose. “I participate for fun,” she says.
Alderman Eddie Förster keeps the starting gun in the air and enjoys visible. “This is a great party,” he says. “Everyone is going to race here at their own pace and that is nice. But that they can be here together and also move is fantastic.”
Pang! And gone are the elderly who all have their own starting number on the walker. A course of 800 meters that runs outside from the outside and back. It is warm, so the first drops of sweat soon appear on the front heads. “It’s tough,” says a participant puffend. “I’m pretty tired.”
The walker run is part of the so-called ‘pampering and care week’ by Bob ( Involved entrepreneurs Breda), A network organization that connects companies and social organizations.
“This week, twenty -five Breda companies have done something for different healthcare authorities,” says organizer Laurens Groeneveld. “We want to make the connection with different groups with this. For example, pancakes have been baked in a nursing home, but there was also aquafitness, a DJ course, a cooking course and a tour along the blind walls (murals, ed.) In the city.”
“We want the elderly to keep moving and take away a bit of loneliness.”
“And so now the walker race,” he continues. “We do that because we think it is very important that the elderly keep moving. But also to take away a bit of loneliness with a pleasant day.”
It is fun and everyone can participate. For example, Alex, with Valhelm but without a walker, is the first to cross the finish line. “Alex lives on the care farm,” explains his supervisor. “He can run terribly fast and has won. He really likes it.”
The first participant who rolls over the finish line is Henny. She shines when, like all other participants, she gets a medal around the neck. “I’m just Max Verstappen in Formula 1,” she says laughing. “Would I have a course record?”
Not everyone has it easy, but there is plenty of people enjoying it. “I thought it was great,” says a participant who rests on a bench. “But I have emphysema and then it is very hard to walk this piece. I no longer have any air. But it is so nice to do this together. Everyone is cozy and friendly.”
Bep and Corry are also inside and sit next to each other on a chair one lawyer empty. “We finished somewhere in the middle,” says Bep. “And we are satisfied with that. Next year we will participate again and then we will be first, haha.”