Walk the Talk !

Today was "Walk the Talk" in Johannesburg ...

What is it ?
It's a walk ! The goal is to make people aware that walking (and doing sports) is good for their health.

Where does it take place ?
It is organized in the city - in Emmarentia, which is located between Parkhurst (where I live) and Auckland Park (where I work). I will put a map below.

How long do you walk ?
There are several races :
- 15km and 30km, for trained people. These are mostly competition races, so people do it seriously and your time is recorded and so on. Note that anyone can participate, you don't have to be licensed.
- 8km and 5km, for the others. This is more a family thing, and a fun atmosphere. We did the 5km.

Who participates ?
Anyone can participate - you just need to register. Usually corporations go as a group. For example, we could register through the University (which then pays for our fee), but we could not choose the distance, we had to do the 5km.

Guess what's the color of the University of Johannesburg ? Yes, like my good old Puntomobile !

How did you go there ?
Well, this is a good question, thanks for asking. As I said, the walk is close to where I live, but in Jo'burg, even a few kilometers you do by car. I had an appointment at a colleague's house so we can go there together. I live in Parkhurst (the yellow star on the top of the map below), and my colleagues live in Melville (the yellow star on the bottom). It's normally 10 minutes by car. Took me 30 this morning, since I was not aware that all the roads would be closed !!! I followed the path in green on the map, as you can see, I "bumped" into dead-ends twice and got lost several times ! It was hectic as they would say here, but I finally got there. And we went together to the start. The 5km race is the red path on the map.

The area of "Walk the Talk" ... In red, the 5km race. In green, the way I had to go through to go to my colleagues' place in Melville !

Did you see any famous people ?
Again, very good question ! Because one of the organizers was the famous swimmer Mark Spitz, a legend ! He gave a small speech and walked the 5km. I never approached him though, he walked in the front row !

How many people participate to this walk ?
In total, 50 000 people came today ! For the 5km walk, 23 000 people gathered !

How was the weather ?
Amazing. I think it was like 25 degrees, clear sky, sunny, a perfect Johannesburg winter day ! :-) 

Do you have some photos from this day ?
Sure !

On the way to the start: the Johannesburg skyline viewed from Melville

On the way to the start: Melville koppies park.

UJ Department of Physics represent !! Only 4 ? Yes ;-)

The start. In the foreground, on the stage, there are two guys in white shirt. The tall one (behind) is a famous rugby player, I think, but I forgot his name. The second one is Mark Spitz. This is about the closest I got to him :-p

Many people in front ...

... and many people behind !

Finish !

Got a medal ! Like everyone finishing the walk ... ;-)