One Million Calories Burned at Aspire on National Sport Day

Thousands gathered at the Torch Hotel on Tuesday afternoon to tackle the first ever ‘5000 Step Journey’ activity hosted by Aspire Zone.

In bright and breezy weather, crowds of families turned out for the activity, which consisted of a 3.5km walk around a specially created outdoor and indoor circuit around the Aspire Zone.

More than 2,500 people walked the full distance of the track, with the participants awarded an Aspire ‘goody bag’ for their efforts.

The ‘5,000 Step Journey,’ organized by Aspetar as part of its highly-acclaimed ‘Step into Health’ program, was designed to encourage healthy eating and daily physical activity.

It is thought that over a million calories will have been burnt during the course of the event – with most walkers burning up to 450 calories during their journey. 

For Santoso Liu, from Indonesia, the journey was the perfect family outing.  

“5,000 steps seems like a long distance but was actually one of the most simple and enjoyable events that I participated in today,” said the 40-year-old father of two. 

“I undertook the journey with my wife and daughters and it was great for us to walk in the sunshine and chat as we exercised.”

The ‘5,000 Step Journey’ was one of the most attended AZF activities of the day. For many, such as Sarah Billings, a 28-year-old from the UK, it was also the main reason to attend the Aspire Zone on National Sports Day.

“My colleagues spotted this event online and we all decided to come along together and have a good chat as we walked,” she said. “It’s amazing really – none of us felt like we had properly exercised but all of us burnt close to 500 calories and walked a very long way. I am definitely going to try and do more walking in the future as a result of this.”

Billings’ words resonate with AZF’s National Sport Day mission, which has clearly inspired Qatar’s community to get fit and live healthy, and it is not just Qatar’s residents that have been invigorated.

Hans Baker travelled to Qatar with his family all the way from Australia just to be in Doha for National Sport day, having been intrigued by the idea, and took part in the ‘Family Boot Camp’ session.

“I found that I’ve still got it despite the fact that I’m a 70-year-old grandfather,” he said. 

“I am impressed by the number of people at Aspire today as well as the number of sporting activities on offer, because people outside the region hold certain stereotypes about people in the Gulf region being lazy, which is clearly not true. Qatar and the Aspire Zone are truly an amazing place to be in terms of sports.”

Last year, Aspire’s National Sport Day celebrations attracted more than 25,000 Qatari residents and this year, Aspire’s third annual National Sport Day spectacular dazzled the crowds even more as Aspire Zone Foundation continues to lead the way towards healthy living in the local community.