Walk1200km is the country’s biggest walking challenge, and this year there are medals for every participant and more chances to win prizes from our partners.
Walk1200km is the perfect challenge for our times. That’s because walking is the direct antithesis to the busyness of the world around us. It’s uncomplicated. It’s cheap. It’s slow. It will de-stress you. It will introduce to you a community whose sole purpose is to support and encourage. It will help you make a habit out of doing good for yourself. It will give you a purpose, a goal that brings satisfaction, lightness and even dignity to your life.
There is no age limit (babies have done it in a front pack, octogenarians have beaten the goal) and participants don’t need to be already fit, or even healthy, to begin. In joining Walk1200km you will walk among those who are recovering from illness, injury or momentous loss and hardship and discover just how powerful a prescription a daily walk can be. You’ll make new friends, explore new trails and enjoy new wonders – sunrises, wildlife, a simple hello from a stranger.
You’ll be joining thousands of others (4700 in 2023!) who walk because it makes them happy, because it brings joy to their day and their friends closer, it can open treasured time with loved ones or time alone to think and ponder.
Walk1200km participants are found along local streets, walkways, backcountry trails, adventurous tracks and in unmarked wilderness.
For some, it’s simply attaching a meaning to what they’ve been doing for years. For others it’s totally life changing. For just about all, there’s a new sprightliness to their step, a brightness to their eyes and an after-walk smile that keeps getting broader.
In the following pages you’ll read how science and health professionals are proving that walking – little, often and outdoors – can help us all stay healthy. How it can declutter our brains, de-stress us and fight cancers and other health issues. It can provide the physical and mental strength required to navigate a difficult world.
It’s simple: walk an average of 3.3km a day for 12 months. Keep track of your distances on the Progress Tracker included in this month’s magazine. You can start whenever you like; most people start in January and make a calendar year of it. Where you walk is up to you – just open the front door and step out.
Prizes can be won each month, but Walk1200km is not a competition. It’s not about who can do it first or walk the greatest distance. It’s an individual challenge, done at your own pace. It’s focused on how much healthier and happier you’ll be by just doing it. And remember, the goal is to walk the greatest cumulative distance you can in 12 months – 1200km is the target, but any effort above or below that is worth celebrating.
Walk every day, even if it’s just a few hundred metres.
Share your success – if people see you doing it, they will also be more motivated to do it. You’ll make friends and celebrate milestones on the Facebook group. We’ll email you newsletters and publish stories of what you get up to along the way.
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