Is Bushwalking a Sport?

[whynotwalk]

I've just started reading a book called "A Philosophy of Walking" by Frederic Gros.

In the opening chapter Gros (a French philosopher) says this:

Walking is not a sport. Sport is a matter of techniques and rules, scores and competition ... Sport is keeping score: what's your ranking? Your time? Your place in the results?

He goes on to say:

When walkers meet, there is no result, no time: the walker may say which way he has come, mention the best path for viewing the landscape, what can be seen from this or that promontory.

Not all walkers I meet would fit into this description ... but the ones I tend to enjoy spending time with do.

What do others think? Is walking becoming more of a competitive sport, or will it always have the "gentle" edge that Gros describes?

cheers

Peter

[pazzar]

Walking is an Olympic event - so how can bushwalking not be a sport also?

I disagree with the statement "When walkers meet, there is no result, no time..." - there is a result - the destination, whether it is reached or not. As for time, well perhaps we are only racing the sun!

I guess peak bagging is one form of making it a sport anyway - it may not always be competitive, but there is a score involved.

[walkon]

Nope bushwalking isn't a sport. I don't look at the next person and think 'I'm getting to the top of the Hill faster than them'. Though I do draw the line at the old lady in a Zimmer frame beating me! Orienteering isn't bushwalking, neither is roganing. ULing? Well that's just an exercise in money laundering so it's not a sport, ATO might think otherwise. I am a faster Walker than some, slower than others so who gives a rats ahhhhhs.

Nope still don't think it's a sport

[neilmny]

I believe the olympic event is race walking not just walking.
I don't see walking in itself as sport regardless of whether you set goals for your day.
If having a goal or reaching a target is the determining factor then design drafting (my job) is also a sport.
In short I agree with Gros and long may it stay that way.

[MickyB]

Personally I don't consider it a sport. I go bushwalking to enjoy the scenery. I don't try to walk quicker than anyone or try to beat my own times. It's not competitive so in my mind it's not a sport.

Walking is an Olympic event - so how can bushwalking not be a sport also?

I don't agree with this. Walkers in an Olympic event aim to win. How do you win in bushwalking?

[Hallu]

Yeah it's not a sport, but it is physical exercise. In French it's more complicated, because a doctor will for example ask you "do you practice a sport ?" instead of "do you do physical exercise ?" and in that sense, yeah bushwalking is then a sport. But otherwise no it's not, as said there's no competition involved, and you (usually) don't go as fast as you can. Alpinism is the same it's not a sport, even though we often compare times. There must be some competition climbing, but that's it.

[walkon]

How do you win in bushwalking?

By going slower and taking it all in. Or just by being out there you are the winning. So this weekend, like all the other people I see out there, we have won.

[MickyB]

just by being out there you are the winning

You sound just like my primary school PE teacher

[Kainas]

Nope bushwalking isn't a sport. I don't look at the next person and think 'I'm getting to the top of the Hill faster than them'. Though I do draw the line at the old lady in a Zimmer frame beating me! Orienteering isn't bushwalking, neither is roganing. ULing? Well that's just an exercise in money laundering so it's not a sport, ATO might think otherwise. I am a faster Walker than some, slower than others so who gives a rats ahhhhhs.

Nope still don't think it's a sport

+1 this.

Having said that (and agreeing that bushwalking isn't a sport). I do accept that bushwalking as a hobby increases the likelihood that the adjective "sporty" will be used to describe your personality.

[Picaro]

A recreation with sweat as a bi product

[mikethepike]

Walking is an Olympic event - so how can bushwalking not be a sport also?

In the same way that while walking is an Olympic sport, walking to the shops isn't.
Bushwalking and peak-bagging are both recreations and not sports though this doesn't possibly stop some people having a competitive element in both their thinking and approach to these activities. Andrew Lock has bagged all of the world's 8000m peaks and I’ll bet that he doesn't regard Himalayan climbing as a sport.

[blacksheep]

Does it matter? Will the defining of an activity change it's meaning?

“To be is to do”—Socrates.
“To do is to be”—Jean-Paul Sartre.
“Do be do be do”—Frank Sinatra.

[mikethepike]

“To be is to do”—Socrates.
“To do is to be”—Jean-Paul Sartre.
“Do be do be do”—Frank Sinatra.

Sinatra made sense anyway. One out of three's not bad!

[neilmny]

Does it matter? Will the defining of an activity change it's meaning?.....

No it doesn't matter but read the OP........no attempt to define anything as I see it just a discussion started by his reading of a book called "A Philosophy of Walking" by Frederic Gros."

[Snowzone]

For me walking is a lifestyle. Its a way which I choose to view the countryside I am walking through. I am not competing against anyone when I am enjoying my activity so it is not a sport.
I still may log my km's or tick my peaks but its not compared against anyone else.

[perfectlydark]

Anything can be a sport depending on context and POV (eating even lol). for me, walking isnt a sport but if you went at it to compete, go further, faster etc then it could be considered so. That said I feel 'bushwalking' philosophy would tend to support it not being a competitive activity as the walking itself is secondary to your surroundings. We dont go to the bush to walk, we walk to be in the bush

[mikethepike]

For me walking is a lifestyle. Its a way which I choose to view the countryside I am walking through. I am not competing against anyone when I am enjoying my activity so it is not a sport.
I still may log my km's or tick my peaks but its not compared against anyone else.

Well said Snowzone. I'm sure this is the position of the vast majority of bushwalkers and if it isn't it ought to be (IMO).

[doogs]

Bushwalking doesn't really have any set rules or parameters....that's why it's awesome So it's is not a sport!!

[Orion]

Not everybody believes that competition is a necessary element of a sport. It seems like what is really being asked is whether bushwalking is competitive, and the answer to that is pretty obvious if you think about it.

[blacksheep]

Bushwalking doesn't really have any set rules or parameters....that's why it's awesome So it's is not a sport!!

Rules, competitiveness ... Is posting on bush walking forums a sport ?

[doogs]

Bushwalking doesn't really have any set rules or parameters....that's why it's awesome So it's is not a sport!!

Rules, competitiveness ... Is posting on bush walking forums a sport ?

Well..kind of, procrastination is definitely a sport that I excel at

[icefest]

To me any named exercise is a sport. Paragliding and skydiving are sports and they both are hardly competitive.

Walking is just as much a sport, it just doesn't always require scoring or compositing.

[johnw]

Peter's question was "What do others think? Is walking becoming more of a competitive sport, or will it always have the "gentle" edge that Gros describes?"

Is casual bushwalking a sport - probably not. But peakbagging might be, where it's done according to a set of rules and points are scored (I won't discuss my miserable Tassie tally).

Someone said earlier that Orienteering and Rogaining are not bushwalking. I've done a reasonable amount of rogaining and would disagree. I don't see any difference in the activities I'm performing between that and bushwalking - just the objective (to score points within a time limit in competition against others). In which case I'd argue that rogaining is definitely a sport, being a competitive form of bushwalking.

[walkerchris77]

No the most exciting thing to watch on tv if it was being telecasted . Left, right, left, right, left, right, left, right, trip over log, left right , left, right,

[neilmny]

No the most exciting thing to watch on tv if it was being telecasted . Left, right, left, right, left, right, left, right, trip over log, left right , left, right,

Yes.......World Series Bushwalking..........hmmmmm the sponsors will be clamouring to get on that wagon

[north-north-west]

Bushwalking doesn't really have any set rules or parameters....

... except one: Survive!

[perfectlydark]

No the most exciting thing to watch on tv if it was being telecasted . Left, right, left, right, left, right, left, right, trip over log, left right , left, right,

while I would lol at that, have you seen how hilariously dramatic they can make the most mundane thing these days? My wife watches the full suite of crap reality shows so I can just imagine...honey boo boo goes bush..

Oh god

[MickyB]

Bushwalking doesn't really have any set rules or parameters....

... except one: Survive!

If bushwalking is a sport and you break this rule you are automatically disqualified from the finals

[north-north-west]

Bushwalking doesn't really have any set rules or parameters....

... except one: Survive!

If bushwalking is a sport and you break this rule you are automatically disqualified from the finals

But the consolation prize is an entry in the Darwin Awards.

[walkerchris77]

What would the winning prize be.? . New pair of shoes, and a pack of bandaids.