The Canberra Walking Festival has been awarded a Health Promotion Innovation Fund Grant of $10,650 from the ACT Government.

The Fund provides money for projects that support ACT Government priorities including to reduce overweight and obesity in our population; to improve children’s health and well-being related to overweight and obesity, including eating habits and increasing physical activity; and to support healthy active ageing through appropriate physical activity opportunities. The official announcement was made by Health Minister Mr. Simon Corbell in mid-August.

The money will be used to help celebrate our 25th event, according to Diana Marshall, president of Canberra Two Day Walk Inc. “In 2016 the Canberra Walking Festival will be offering a wide range of walks over five days, instead of our usual weekend,” she explains, “and we’ll also be offering a point-to-point walk on the Canberra Centenary Trail for the first time. The walks highlight our Bush Capital and have been designed to showcase the best of Canberra.”

Our 25th anniversary celebration will begin Thursday, 31 March, with an 11km Sculpture Walk starting and finishing at the National Museum of Australia.

A Capital Walk of approximately 12km will take place Friday morning, 1 April. This walk will include a short tour of both Parliament House and the Australian War Memorial. Walkers will stop for lunch and return in time for our usual 5km Welcome Walk around the Parliamentary Triangle.  After that walk we will hold our official opening ceremony followed by a short reception for our interstate and international visitors.

The Canberra Centenary Trail Walk will take place on Saturday, 2 April. Buses will transport participants from the Control Centre at the Charles Sturt University campus in Barton to the start of the routes. Much of this walk will be along bush trails but the gradient is generally less than 10 percent. Participants may walk 11, 20, 28 or 42km.

Walkers return to Lake Burley Griffin on Sunday, 3 April, for the familiar Loop the Lake Walk of 10, 15, 21 or 29km.

Guided 5-6km walks are also offered on Saturday and Sunday but these walks are aimed primarily at the under 8s and over 75s. All walkers who complete a walk on Saturday and Sunday will be awarded the Canberra Two Day Walker medal.

Our final Festival walk will be Monday, 4 April, from the Arboretum to the Australian National Botanic Gardens, a distance of about 13km. This walk will cover another section of the Centenary Trail.

For more information about the 25th Canberra Walking Festival please
visit www.aussiewalk.com.au
and register at
https://www.registernow.com.au/secure/Register.aspx?E=18298