Nordic walking is promoted in Galicia

In the 1930s, the Finnish national Nordic ski team decided to extend their training into the summer. There was no snow, so they thought about simulating, in as similar a way as possible, the action on ski poles. It was a formula that aerobic physical preparation was not lost. It soon spread to other countries and in Finland, Half a century after its development, the Ministry of Education introduced marching in schools. “It requires a certain technique, it’s not just relying on some kind of sticks, which don’t fall when wearing dragon straps. In addition to walking with your feet, you move with your hands, in a certain position and inclination. It’s a pretty complete exercise and very little harmful,” says Gerardo García Pedreira, a Central Highlands guide who organizes Nordic walking tours in natural areas in the Ferrol region with the company Kapitrek.

You are moving 90% of the muscles

“It is a highly recommended sport for those who need to practice physical activity in a sedentary life. You can activate 90% of your muscles during exercise. The bars allow the strides to be longer. Then, anyone can practice it at the speed they want. You need to move your shoulders more than your elbows and practice your technique. As in all sports, what you have to do is mechanize the movement. On average, six kilometers can be covered in an hour without bumps,” says García Pedreira. The champion of Spain came to do ten.

And that is that, in addition to training for amateurs, a competition modality has also been developed. On April 15 in Almería, a new edition of the Spanish championship will be held, in which the mountaineering club from Pontevedra Xesteiras and the only specific Galician Nordic walking club from A Coruña will participate. “We have 120 members, and about thirty of them compete. We have five or six that are doing very well. The podium will be difficult, but we can aim for fourth place if we are good at it”, advances Tomás Romero, vice president of the Herculean entity.

“You have to wear it to school”

The number of followers in Galicia has not stopped growing in recent years. “Since I started my activity, demand has been growing. Now I have a waiting list, because I don’t have any more hours to devote to it and I only work with small groups of no more than 14 people. It is a sport that attracts more people already at a more mature age. Younger people prefer running, climbing or mountain biking,” admits García Pedreira.

Romero shares the diagnosis. “It has grown a lot in recent years, but in other parts of Spain they have hit a key that we have not yet achieved. In other areas, there are children’s, cadet and youth categories, but in Galicia they all start at the senior level. We need that foundation and we will fight to get it. This is something that we have to do hand in hand with the Anpas, transferring it to the schools”, says the vice president of the Nordic Walking Club from A Coruña. “If you put a 70-year-old with a 25-year-old in a group, the younger ones will probably find it boring. But the trick is to adjust the level and pace to make it more attractive and keep promoting it,” Romero admits.

A Coruña, a pioneer in the Spanish competition

The first official championship in Nordic walking in Spain was held in A Coruña in 2017, making the Galician city one of the neuralgic points for the development of this discipline in Spain. A year later, the company Salud y Movimiento started its educational activity, which it currently holds as one of the great references.

The city of Hercules also hosted the Galicia Championship in 2019 and again hosted the Spanish Championship in 2021. At that time, almost 400 competitors took part. Teams consist of eight men and eight women for each participating club, with the four best times being scored at the end of the test.