New sports walk reveals The Hague's unique sports history

The free historical sports walk was launched today by alderman Bredemeijer (right) and top athlete Tangui van Schingen (left). (Photo: The Hague & Partners)

The Hague - What do the stork, the Hague cockerel and the Hague hoopoe have in common? They are all part of the new historical sports walk that connects the present with the past of The Hague's sports tradition. Today, alderman Hilbert Bredemeijer launched this new free walking route, together with Hague top athlete and world champion freerunning, Tangui van Schingen.

 Alderman Bredemeijer says: ‘The Hague is truly a historic sports city and with this walk you can experience that for yourself. This sports walk invites residents to exercise and discover the history of The Hague. I look forward to seeing many Hague sports lovers on the route!’

 

Special sports facts

The sports walk combines facts, historical facts, walk-and-win questions and fun exercises. It takes participants through the centre of The Hague based on 12 locations. 

From starting point The Hague Info Store at Den Haag Centraal railway station, the route passes, among others, Malieveld (where people played the ball game ‘mali’ in the 16th century), Kazernestraat (home to one of the oldest bowling alleys in the Netherlands) and Hofvijver (where the beach volleyball world championships were held as recently as 2015).
 

The Hague exercises

At each point, participants are challenged to move on their own. For example, you can do balance exercise the ‘Stork’, strength exercise the ‘Hague chopper’, jumping exercise the ‘Hague hop’ or coordination exercise the ‘Goldband’. The exercises are explained using descriptions and instruction videos.

This way, while jumping, sprinting and hopping, you make a sporty and informative walk through the city centre of The Hague. The walk concludes on the Plein, where you can then order a thirst-quenching drink.

 

Top athlete

Real sports enthusiasts can challenge themselves with agility exercise the ‘Tangui’, devised by top athlete Tangui van Schingen who is the face of the sports walk. Tangui says: ‘You jump up from a squat and then land on one leg. This tests your balance considerably, something that is very important for me during my freerunning competitions.’

He continues: ‘It's great to be involved in this historic sports walk. I hope this will help even more people discover how much fun exercise is, young and old.’

 

A chance to win

The route is just under four kilometres long and, including exercises, takes about an hour and a half. As an extra challenge, there will be questions along the way. If you submit the correctly completed questionnaire, you will have a chance to win sporting prizes.

In addition, the first 100 participants will receive a unique sports towel upon showing the walk on your phone and a picture of the exercise at Noordeinde Palace. You can pick up the towel at The Hague Info Store.

 

Production 

This walk was produced and devised by The Hague & Partners, commissioned by the municipality of The Hague. Thanks to author Theo Bollerman for the historical information in his series ‘Sports city The Hague unbeatable for centuries’.

From today, the free walking route ‘Sportwandeling, Workout and Win’ is live at denhaag.com/sportwandeling.