Seniors in Victoria, B.C. walk to honour Terry Fox
Walk also meant to raise awareness for International Active Aging Week, from Oct. 3 to 9
A group of seniors on Vancouver Island is teaming up to stay active and honour the late Terry Fox.
Seniors at Revera Parkwood Place retirement home in Victoria, along with seniors at other Revera sites, originally planned to collectively walk 3,134 kilometres — the distance between the Terry Fox monuments in Thunder Bay, Ont. and Victoria — by Oct. 28.
The plan was part of an initiative to get Revera retirement home residents from Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and B.C. active and moving.
But Parkwood Place manager Cheryl Chalifour said the response in Victoria has been so strong, she's confident that Parkwood Place residents will reach that goal all on their own.
Chalifour says about 30 residents are taking part in the project, most of them in their 80s and some in their 90s. She's hopeful more residents will join in.
The walk is also meant to raise awareness for International Active Aging Week, running from Oct. 3 to 9, which aims to highlight how seniors can benefit from physical activity.
Parkwood Place resident Chuck Naylor, 86, is eager to take part in the walks honouring Fox.
Naylor is an avid walker, taking 9,000 to 10,000 steps a day. He says he doesn't have time to get bored during his walks because he's too busy meeting people.
One of his favourite routes is along Victoria's Dallas Road to the cruise ship dock.
"We see all the cruise people getting off — there's all kinds of people to meet from all over the world," he said. "So you just expand your humanness."
Naylor says he tries to use exercise equipment at Parkwood Place and takes the stairs rather than the elevator.
"But I have rheumatoid arthritis, so sometimes I chicken out," he said with a laugh.
Naylor says aging doesn't mean a life resigned to a couch.
"We may be old, but we're not decrepit," he said.
