Possum Bourne has been named the Ryman Healthcare Active Ageing Village of the Year for 2022. The winning village was announced by Olympian Barbara Kendall, who was the special guest speaker at a glitzy high-tech awards ceremony held at Edmund Hillary Retirement Village.
The medal ceremony, which was also live-streamed into 42 Ryman villages in New Zealand and Australia, was the culmination of four months of regular walking and activity by more than 1,300 Ryman residents who registered for the Walking for Wellness initiative on both sides of the Tasman.
The first three months were spent training before a virtual walk of 60km kicked off for the month of October - of Abel Tasman National Park in New Zealand and along Mornington Peninsula in Victoria.
Speaking on behalf of the Possum Bourne residents, who were also thrilled by a stretch limo ride to the venue, Activities Coordinator Susan Horan congratulated every resident who had taken part before praising the way the Pukekohe village had embraced the challenge.
“It has been amazing. Our residents are just so competitive! We have had a lot of fun along the way and have really enjoyed doing the Auckland walks with all the other villages,” she said.
Barbara Kendall gave a great presentation about the benefits of remaining fit and active and some other tips for life that she had learned.
“When I am active, I will always feel better, golden rule. I always feel much better when I have good company around me, preferably doing fun things. When I eat well – they say you are what you eat – I always feel better. And think positively. We are lucky to be humans living on this planet right now!”
She gave credit to the residents who stepped outside their comfort zone and took on the challenge of walking 60km in 30 days, just like Rowena Jackson’s Mona Robertson, who was invited on stage to talk to MC Jason Gunn about her Walking for Wellness experience.
Rowena Jackson's Mona Robertson with MC Jason Gunn, who kept everyone entertained.
Ryman’s Chief Strategy Officer Mary-Anne Stone said: “I think ‘be like Mona’ might become one of our Ryman catchphrases!”
Stone said the Walking for Wellness initiative followed on from last year’s Olympics@Ryman event and said the response had been fantastic, with 716 residents completing the challenge.
“That translates into a whopping 43,104.7km walked!” she said.
“This event was not only about completing the 60ks in 30 days. It was about breaking barriers, going beyond your usual activity and pushing yourself to do more. Finding your own way to a new level of fitness and wellbeing and hopefully forming some healthy habits for life – and maybe some new friends along the way too.”
Ryman Healthcare’s CEO – New Zealand, Cheyne Chalmers, announced all the individual medal winners in each of the three age categories, giving bronze, silver and gold medals to both men and women in each, plus a team category.
Chalmers said the success of the challenge had instigated a new level of baseline fitness across Ryman villages, with participation and commitment to regular walking being the core goal.
“The way you all responded and took it to heart and gave it a go has just blown us away. We’ve been delighted by how well it has gone and how you have all achieved your goals.
“Two of our villages decided to approach the challenge as a group and commit to walking 2km each day for the whole month. We really think that encapsulates the spirit of the challenge, so a special mention goes to Malvina Major and Essie Summers villages.”
The calculations for the village of the year were judged on the percentage of independent residents at each village who completed the challenge, the way the event was used to promote and measure health gain through the percentage of health assessments completed and the number of top 10 placeholders across all categories per village.
