Phillips aims to continue Fitness Sundays in Diego

INSTEAD of walking with your bicycles or your running shoes this Sunday, former TT cyclist and health enthusiast Michael Phillips is calling on everyone to walk with brooms and shovels in an effort to continue the Keep Moving Family and Fitness Sundays.

For the past 12 years, the Diego Martin Highway has been buzzing with activity every Sunday morning between 6 and 9 am.

“We have taught many to ride a bike and given a great space for people to meet their neighbours while exercising. We have also enjoyed great support at times as well as we have had our major challenges,” Phillips said in a Facebook post.

A section of the highway has been milled in an effort to prevent cars from skidding off the road. The rough road is now unsuitable for cycling.

Phillips and his team want to continue the initiative.

“We have seen the fall-off in participation in the last couple of weeks and we are very concerned that people may feel discouraged that their only safe haven for cycling may have been taken away.

“However, we do have some ideas. One of which is to clean the far right of the road that has not been milled so it can be used for the faster riders. My team and I started cleaning and clearing this (last Sunday) morning. The four of us managed about 500 metres so far, but I think we’re definitely going to need a hand.”

In an interview with Newsday, Phillips said people willing to help can bring brooms, shovels and wheelbarrows this coming Sunday. The aim is to clean approximately two kilometres of the highway.

Phillips said the programme has become a routine for many.

“A part of it is a social aspect…people meet up with other people and then those people become part of a support group.”

He said people urge their friends to continue taking part.

“When you have people that call you and start pulling you back into it, what you are getting is that positive peer pressure.”

The Ministry of Works and Transport has supported the Keep Moving Family and Fitness Sundays by bringing an act of Parliament two years ago which allows Phillips and his team to use the highway every Sunday. Phillips plans to call MP for Diego Martin Central Symon de Nobriga, because he does not want to create the impression that the cleaning initiative is a form of “protest.”

The Facebook post also said the initiative is recognised outside TT. “It is the only one of its kind in the Caribbean and has been recognised as such by the Pan American Health Organization…let’s all find the ways we can do our part to make our communities closer and better.”