Sagunto marks International Day of Older Persons with 'Caminando por la vida' march
On Thursday 1 October, Sagunto marks the International Day of Older Persons with the second edition of the free "Caminando por la vida" march through Puerto de Sagunto; registration is open until 25 September.
On 1 October, Sagunto will take to the streets again to celebrate its older residents. The city council has called the second edition of the "Caminando por la vida" (Walking for Life) march, organised through the Social Services and Elderly Affairs departments to mark the International Day of Older Persons — a day that aims both to encourage outdoor exercise and to offer a meeting point that fights social isolation among this group.
The route runs through the streets of Puerto de Sagunto (the coastal district of Sagunto): it starts at 9.30am at the Alameda promenade, reaches the Pantalán pier and returns to the starting point, with the finish expected around 10.30am. Once the walk ends, organisers will hand out sandwiches and drinks to participants and close the event with the reading of a commemorative manifesto.
Taking part is free, but requires prior registration: just call 664 468 791 before noon on 25 September. Collaborators include, on the public side, the CEA elderly community centres in Sagunto and Puerto de Sagunto, the National Police's citizen participation unit, the Valencia Port Authority, the Local Police and the Physical Activity, Health and Sports department; and, on the private side, care-service firms such as Eurest, Atenzia, Cruz Roja (Red Cross), DomusVi and Carelive.
Anyone signing up would do well to wear comfortable shoes and clothing suited to an hour-long walk through town, and to hydrate beforehand, since temperatures in Puerto de Sagunto can still run high this late in September.
Councillor Nuria Carbó encouraged older residents to join an event that, she stressed, exists to share and celebrate the day together. The observance traces back to 1990, when the UN General Assembly proclaimed it on 14 December; it was first officially marked a year later, in 1991, and has since served as the reference point for this kind of municipal event worldwide.
Sagunto is no exception to a trend affecting the whole Valencian Community: the steady ageing of the population has led many councils across the district to add similar initiatives in recent years — guided walks, memory workshops, intergenerational gatherings — as part of their social welfare policies, sharing the goal of keeping older residents part of community life.
This is already the second edition of an event the council wants to establish as a fixed date on its annual calendar for older residents, alongside other recent initiatives for this group, such as the future multipurpose building rising at plaza Sant Cristòfol. Anyone wishing to take part should bear in mind that places depend on the order of phone registrations, so the council recommends not leaving the call until the last minute.
Bringing together public administrations and socio-healthcare businesses to organise the march reflects a collaboration model that recurs in other initiatives aimed at older residents in Sagunto, where firms such as DomusVi and Cruz Roja maintain a constant presence in home-care programmes, residences and community activities throughout the year, well beyond one-off events like this one.
The council's autumn calendar includes, besides this march, other initiatives aimed specifically at older residents, from memory and physical activity workshops to intergenerational gatherings organised with schools, part of an ongoing commitment the Elderly Affairs department maintains throughout the year.
The chosen route is no accident: the Alameda promenade and the area around the Pantalán pier form part of Puerto de Sagunto's seafront, one of the go-to spaces for walking and outdoor exercise among older residents all year round, not just on marked dates like this one.
Initiatives like this fit within standard public health advice on the importance of regular physical activity for older people, both for maintaining mobility and preventing conditions linked to a sedentary lifestyle — a message the Health and Elderly Affairs departments try to reinforce through open, free events of this kind.
The decision to handle registration only by phone also reflects a deliberate choice by organisers, aware that much of the march's target audience is not always familiar with the digital sign-up systems used for other municipal events.
The observance, originally launched by the United Nations to raise the profile of older people's role in society, has over the years translated into hundreds of similar events organised by councils and social organisations worldwide, from marches and urban routes to open days at elderly centres.
According to Sagunto City Council and El Periódico de Aquí, with additional background from Wikipedia on the International Day of Older Persons.