It was the biggest, and best year yet for Walk to Tuk. Celebrating its 10th anniversary, the NWT Recreation and Parks Association started off the challenge by holding a special community celebration in Zhatıé Kų́ę́ (Fort Providence).
“Despite the weather being around -40°C, everyone got dressed and headed out for a walk from the school to the white and blue church, one of the most photographed historical buildings in the NWT,” wrote Stefanie Mikslovic, Active Communities Coordinator.
Over 4,800 people from 30 NWT communities and beyond participated in the challenge. Altogether, the 433 participating teams logged a grand total of 729,802 kilometres.
Calculated in hours of exercise, Walk to Tuk participants collectively spent over 178,663 hours walking. On average, each participant accumulated 205 minutes of weekly exercise—far above the 150 minutes recommended by the Canadian Physical Activity Guidelines.
To help motivate the participants, Walk to Tuk offers prizes such as team lunches, tablets or smartphones for team captains, flight passes, and of course “I walked to Tuk” T-shirts. Some of the prize winners included:
Grand Prize – Canadian North Flight Pass
- Winner: Jackie Fidler of The The von Brown Family Walkers from Yellowknife.
- Winner: Barrie Stone of the Southern Stars from Inuvik
Team Captain Prize – Samsung Galaxy S10+ (128GB) donated by Northwestel
- Winner: Tom Makepeace, team captain of the Haywalkers in Hay River.
Team Prizes – Team Lunch
- JK SISSONS from Yellowknife (school team)
- Camsell Walkers from Hay River (company)
- LeBad from Fort Simpson (community)
Walk to Tuk is the biggest and longest recreational physical activity event in the NWT; taking place for eight weeks during January and February, the darkest and coldest time of year.
Walk to Tuk encourages community members, schools, and workplaces to form teams and together, conceptually walk the distance of the Big River from Zhatıé Kų́ę́ to Tuktuuyaqtuuq, a total of 1,658km.
