Thursday, November 22, 2007
History of Nordic Walking... A Passionate American Compelled to Respond!
.
David...
I was very moved by your recent post on your blog website regarding "The History Of Nordic Walking", and was compelled to respond. Feel free to publish my response in any way that you may feel appropriate. Being 70 years of age, I feel that I can freely express my opinions without fear of what others may think!
Even though most of us who have been involved in "pole walking" for a while know the true history of the activity, very few are willing to publicly acknowledge the contributions of Tom Rutlin and Marko Kantaneva to that activity. Even here in America, where it all started, people are not ready to accept the fact that "one of their own" really started it all...
...After all, doesn't it just make much more sense to think that an activity called "Nordic Walking" would come from one of the Scandinavian countries, just like Nordic Skiing? And in fact, the predecessor of pole walking, called "hill bounding" was practiced in Scandinavia as a summer training activity for Nordic skiing long before Nordic Walking existed. (I was doing "hill-bounding" with my cross-country ski poles in the 1970's)...
... there can be no doubt that the first commercially documented use of poles used for 'fitness walking' was started in 1988, by Tom Rutlin and his company was called Exerstrider. I bought my first set of walking poles from Tom in 1988, and still have and use them today. And for those of you who may not know, Tom's first poles did come with leather straps! I'm not sure when he eliminated them. Unfortunately, Tom did not have much financial support for his new enterprise and the activity did not take hold in America, like Nordic Walking did in Europe in the late 1990's to now...
Tom's operation, and I suspect, Marko's operation as well, are still small compared to the big pole companies, Exel, LEKI, Swix etc. I'm not sure how many "Exerstride Method" Instructors Tom Rutlin has in the world, but I am sure that those numbers would pale next to the numbers posted by LEKI, Exel, and other pole companies...
...Bottom line here is what is sometimes called "The Golden Rule". He who has the gold rules!
Thank you once again for allowing us in the "Nordic Walking World" the means to exchange ideas, thoughts and opinions about our passion...
Have a Wonderful Thanksgiving and Holiday Season!
Walk Well!
David...
I was very moved by your recent post on your blog website regarding "The History Of Nordic Walking", and was compelled to respond. Feel free to publish my response in any way that you may feel appropriate. Being 70 years of age, I feel that I can freely express my opinions without fear of what others may think!
Even though most of us who have been involved in "pole walking" for a while know the true history of the activity, very few are willing to publicly acknowledge the contributions of Tom Rutlin and Marko Kantaneva to that activity. Even here in America, where it all started, people are not ready to accept the fact that "one of their own" really started it all...
...After all, doesn't it just make much more sense to think that an activity called "Nordic Walking" would come from one of the Scandinavian countries, just like Nordic Skiing? And in fact, the predecessor of pole walking, called "hill bounding" was practiced in Scandinavia as a summer training activity for Nordic skiing long before Nordic Walking existed. (I was doing "hill-bounding" with my cross-country ski poles in the 1970's)...
... there can be no doubt that the first commercially documented use of poles used for 'fitness walking' was started in 1988, by Tom Rutlin and his company was called Exerstrider. I bought my first set of walking poles from Tom in 1988, and still have and use them today. And for those of you who may not know, Tom's first poles did come with leather straps! I'm not sure when he eliminated them. Unfortunately, Tom did not have much financial support for his new enterprise and the activity did not take hold in America, like Nordic Walking did in Europe in the late 1990's to now...
Tom's operation, and I suspect, Marko's operation as well, are still small compared to the big pole companies, Exel, LEKI, Swix etc. I'm not sure how many "Exerstride Method" Instructors Tom Rutlin has in the world, but I am sure that those numbers would pale next to the numbers posted by LEKI, Exel, and other pole companies...
...Bottom line here is what is sometimes called "The Golden Rule". He who has the gold rules!
Thank you once again for allowing us in the "Nordic Walking World" the means to exchange ideas, thoughts and opinions about our passion...
Have a Wonderful Thanksgiving and Holiday Season!
Walk Well!
.
Ed Urbanski.
Labels: Ed Urbanski, Hill Bounding, History of Nordic Walking, Marko Kantaneva, Pole Walking, Tom Rutlin
