With the help of health-conscious Okotoks residents, Canada may soon be able to add “fittest nation on Earth” to its resume.
Okotoks is participating in National Health and Fitness Day Saturday, which promotes getting active and healthy and in turn reduces health care costs that occur due to inactivity.
“One of the reasons why we wanted to be a part of this is to promote health and fitness in the community,” said Janette Messer, Okotoks programs and events manager. “We know that long-term participation in healthy activities and fitness programs contributes to a healthier community. We recognize that not everyone is interested in doing the same thing and the variety of what we've put together for this day does really give a taste-test for a number of activities for everybody in the family.”
There will be no excuses for not getting the heart going Saturdya. Okotoks is offering a variety of options with a full day of family-oriented free activities at three different locations around town.
“In the morning Okotoks recreation centre we have a 9-10 a.m. family boot camp, and we certainly tried to make it family oriented,” Messer said. “From 10 to11:30 a.m. family zumba with a little bit of yoga thrown in, from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. we have family pickleball, which should be fun because we hear so often of the older generation playing pickleball, but this is certainly an opportunity to have fun with younger children as well.”
The Town will also offer a free family skate at Pason Centennial Arena, from 1:30-3:30 p.m. and then family ball hockey, soccer and a three km run/walk at the Legacy Regional Field House.
The federal government passed Bill S-211 in December, which proclaims National Health and Fitness Day each year on the first Saturday of June.
Macleod MP John Barlow brought the proclamation to town council and said if communities band together and get active it could have a long-term affect on the health of Canada as a nation.
“We spend so many dollars on health care for the consequences of our lifestyle and that's expensive,” he said. “If we put more focus on the root cause of our health issues, which is being more active being more healthy I think that's going to be a huge cost savings to our health care system. We're encouraging Canadians to take a hard look at their lifestyles, take a day, get out there, and be active… get off your computer for an hour, get outside, go for a walk, go for a run, whatever.”
