Fight the flab

HIGHWAY One is no small route.

The network of freeways circles our large island nation under various names including its Victorian section that we know as the Princes Freeway or the M1 (and then from Winchelsea to the South Australian border as the A1).

So it is no small task for the residents of Winchelsea to set themselves the collective challenge of walking the route’s total distance in just six weeks.

As we report today, the idea was the brainchild of local mother-of-four Angie Mawson, who ran a smaller version of the undertaking with players at the Winchelsea Netball Club.

When people outside the club wanted to get involved she upgraded the scale of the quest.

Now 250 people are registered including primary schools, kinders and businesses and cancer patients.

And half way through week two of the six week challenge the group has already covered over 8500kms — a substantial way toward their 14,500kms round the nation distance.

Congratulations to Ms Mawson for being such a positive and active member of her local community.

And well done to the people of Winchelsea for getting involved.

We like to think we’re pretty fit here in Geelong.

We have huge numbers of sporting clubs for our population. And thousands will turn out to pound the pavement for Run Geelong on Sunday week.

But we can always do more to stay active, fight the flab, ward off sedentary lifestyles and to break a sweat.

And regional centres — from Ararat to Shepparton — often rate too highly on statistics showing obesity rates per proportion of the population.

They say the hardest thing to doing exercise is putting your sneakers on. There’s a truth to that. We could all do worse than follow Winchelsea’s example and set aside times and targets for our continued activity.

Our health and happiness depend on it. So do our lives.