Fifty years ago everyone suddenly went on the jogging track

In the early 1970s, our country was under the spell of grooming, with everyone moving outdoors. The TV show Andere Tijden did it diffusion completed.

Decoupage in the Amsterdamse Bos, photo Going through Amsterdam City Archives

bee The telegraph from August 18, 1969 was an appendix with a front page photo of Foreign Minister Luns smiling in a swimming pool. It was meant to get lazy readers to get moving. “Get rid of sagging tummy and muscles.”

The ministers and the secretary of state set a good example and passed on The telegraph shooting in a sporting environment. For example, they supported the Netherlands Sports Federation (NSF) which had launched a campaign a year earlier to get the country moving.

A national TRIM committee has been created especially for this purpose, with the NSF using the Norwegian term garnish had borrowed, because apparently the Dutch didn’t know a word for exercising in an open space. ‘NSF does not rest before action U-cut is a national event. According to them, it was a success, because after a month, some 15,000 people were already participating, including 700 Philips employees and 1,500 PTT. And so in 1969 the entire Dutch government, if only for the image.

Everything was good

The definition of “grooming” was still quite broad in 1968: “Cycling or walking half an hour a day, but at least two hours a week; half an hour a week running or water skiing; one hour a week of tennis, badminton, basketball, volleyball and whatever else the groomer wants. It didn’t matter that the Dutch moved around more.

The cut often included jogging trails in wooded areas. “A kind of obstacle course with a stimulating character,” said Mr. Oversteegen, designer of one of these first jogging tracks in 1969. The athlete had to climb it and if possible within a certain time frame. The first jogging tracks were built in the forests of Arnhem and the neighboring Posbank – copied from Germany.

They were built with as many natural materials as possible, the TV show showed From one region to another in 1970. “I’m not going to destroy the forest,” said Mr. Lambarts, also a jogging track designer. “Wood that has to be removed, I use it for that and I only adapt it to nature. I use anything that has a bit of shape. “

In other words, environmentally friendly sports. Could it be better? Thus began the craze for grooming, which flooded the entire land of Gelderland. In 1971, there were around 500 jogging tracks, used by hundreds of thousands of people.

Clumsy

As befits a fad, participation quickly became somewhat convincing. ‘Anyone who isn’t pruning yet is actually a clumsy man,’ the newspaper says The free people. Proponents of grooming became overconfident and even opened a grooming station along the highway in Driebergen in April 1971. “After driving efforts, road users can perform the body movements shown here and recover. then in good shape behind the wheel, ”explained the journalist. The weather at. The Minister of Traffic and Water Management came to open the matter personally.

This tram station was a flop. Two months after opening The telegraph a glance. “Patiently waiting three hours in the tall grass next to the grooming station didn’t have a single groomer on the hot June day. Many viewers who read with interest the revival for more physical activity and happily left it there.

In fact, by this time it also became clear that there were the necessary problems on the jogging tracks. For example, in 1974 it became clear that they could be particularly dangerous for older athletes. The government then banned the construction of new jogging tracks. The NSF hoped to improve conditions with adjustments, but to no avail, as it turned out in 1979: “The Department of Health has serious doubts about the safety of snow groomers on jogging trails outside populated areas.”

The tuning was therefore not always so healthy, the maintenance of the tracks being another major problem. They were far from the built-up area, so vandalism was often committed. And because of the use of nails and wood for tools, there were more and more accidents.

That’s why it had to be different, according to Staatsbosbeheer. Instead of jogging trails, the focus has been on walking, cycling and horse-riding trails. And a new word was borrowed: to jog, came from the United States in 1978. After exactly ten years, the craze for the cup was over.

The area was dead, long live jogging!