Standing in the front lobby of the Touchmark at Fairway Village retirement community in east Vancouver on Friday morning, health and fitness director Jennifer Short asked the group of roughly two dozen senior citizens seated in front of her if they wanted to delay the start of the Couve to Columbia Relay Walk by one hour due to rain.
The ensuing response — a collective, boisterous “Nnnnnoooooo!!!!” — left no doubt about the participants’ level of enthusiasm for the relay walk.
The second annual event invited residents and staff members, clad in lime-green Couve to Columbia Relay Walk T-shirts, to join together for a 10-mile relay from the retirement community to the Vancouver waterfront. The event aims to promote health, companionship and joyful aging.
“We want to show people that there’s a lot more that they can do in their later years, do things that they’ve never done before, do things in a different capacity and make new friendships,” said Michelle Avdienko, Touchmark’s life enrichment director. “It’s all about finding ways to support vibrant lifestyles in the later years.”
Six teams, consisting of between six and eight Touchmark residents and employees, departed the facility in decorated vans and set out along a mapped course. Each team member completed legs ranging from 0.09 to 1.2 miles. The walk concluded with a festive finish-line celebration at Twigs Bistro on the Vancouver waterfront.
“Touchmark does an amazing job of organizing this event,” said Touchmark resident Catherine Stevens, 81, a member of the Trashy Ladies team (so named because the team picks up trash along the route).
“I had so much fun (last year), I didn’t even think about not doing it again,” said Stevens, who also participates in Touchmark’s exercise and yoga classes five times per week.
The event represents the culmination of Touchmark’s Active Aging Week, a campaign organized by the International Council on Active Aging celebrating the positive aspects of aging by promoting active, healthy lifestyles for older adults.
“It’s really a national effort to get people out and doing something for our seniors,” Avdienko said. “The residents (in Friday’s event) range in age from mid-70s to 92, and you would never believe it because of their active lifestyles. They live longer and are able to do more and have greater experiences and be around for their families. They’re inspiring.”
Touchmark resident Marlene Knechtel, 91, still participates in competitive walking and running events, including the Washington State Senior Games earlier this year. She was a member of the Fast Ladies team on Friday.
“At our age, we don’t travel as much, so this is a new adventure today. It’s so good for your mind. One thing about me is I never think I’m old,” Knechtel said.
Touchmark resident Larry J. Smith, 81, a member of the Road Kills team (and a former Vancouver city councilor), works out at 24-Hour Fitness at Columbia Tech Center six times per week and walks regularly, often in the waterfront area. He said the Couve to Columbia Relay Walk fosters a sense of camaraderie.
“This is a nice event because it pulls people together,” he said. “It’s a crazy world we live in right now, and anything we can do together and have fun and enjoy one another’s company brings out the best of us. You get to know another side of a person that you probably didn’t know about before.”
The event promotes fun, fitness and friendship while celebrating the importance of active lifestyles for older adults, Avdienko said.
“I think my favorite thing about the event is giving people the experience of doing something for the first time in their lives, later in their lives,” she said. “We haven’t done it all, and we can still try new things and step out of our comfort zone and have these great adventures later in life, and it is just so inspiring and so exciting for them to do that.”
Touchmark leaders created the event in 2024, modeling it after the Hood to Coast Relay and receiving help from one of the community’s residents, who mapped the course. The first event, held in October 2024, was a “huge success,” Avdienko said.
“All of us working for that common goal, then at the end, standing there, everyone celebrating, it was huge for us,” she said. “The residents couldn’t wait to do it again, so we knew we were on to something pretty special.”
Avdienko said Touchmark plans to hold the event annually and turn it into a fundraiser.