Best friends Maxine Sims and Leah Wright have been to many Langley Walk events through the years, so many, they weren’t sure what the exact number was when they spoke to the Langley Advance Times before the 62nd edition of the annual event got underway in Walnut Grove Community Park on Sunday afternoon, May 5.
“I think I’ve done it 20 times. I don’t know,” Sims said.
“A few times, quite a few,” estimated Wright.
Sims is now 60, and Wright was one day away from her 60th birthday on the day of the walk.
Their friendship goes back to Grade 3 when both were growing up in Langley. Sims now resides in Langley City, while Wright lives in Chilliwack.
“Love the walk, we’ve always done that,” Wright said.
“I just really like it. Just community, people getting out exercising,” Sims enthused.
Both urged folks to try the event.
“Make it a habit, make it a thing,” Sims encouraged.
This year, Wright explained she was walking for a personal reason.
“I’m actually here representing pancreatic cancer today, because I have pancreatic cancer and we’re walking to make myself fit,” she said.
“I’m here to support her,” Sims noted.
There were 631 people registered for the event, a substantial jump from the previous year’s 250, but the number who actually turned out was expected to be about half that due to the threat of rain on the day.
That was the estimate of Kevin Muirhead, Township special events manager, who said participants ranged in age from “as young as newborns” all the way to 95 years.
Mike Brassington and his youngest daughter Tallica, three, came in from Saskatoon to take part.
“I’ve been coming here [to take part in the walk] since 1967,” Brassington, a former Langley resident, explained.
Members of both Township and Langley City councils were also present.
Mayor Eric Woodward called it an “absolutely fabulous tradition unique to Langley.”
The tradition was started in 1963 by Pete Swensson, Langley Township’s first recreation director whose motto was “walk away your ills, instead of taking pills.”
The first walk covered a route from Aldergrove Park to River Road to Fort Langley, then on to City Park, a 28-kilometre journey.
This year’s event had a five-km route, with all finishers receiving a commemorative crest.
The walk is shared between the Langley City and the Township over a four-year cycle, with the Township hosting three years, and the City one.
On Sunday, Woodward announced next year’s walk would be held in Aldergrove.
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