HPER students walk Great Wall

Forty students, faculty and staff members from the IU School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation are today hiking northeast of Beijing at Mutianyu, one of the best-preserved parts of the country's Great Wall.\nWhile participants are in the middle of their 11-day trip, which includes five days of hiking, anyone can check up on their progress on a new Web site, www.greatwallwalk.indiana.edu.\nDavid Gallahue, the trip's organizer, said "friendship, fitness and international understanding" are themes of the 50-mile hike along parts of the 4,500 mile-long wall -- some of which are closed to the public. The group departed May 6.\nThe walk celebrates 10 years of friendship and cooperation between IU's HPER and the Beijing University of Physical Education, which is represented by 20 walkers. The partnership has promoted cultural exchanges and healthy lifestyles.\nIU's walkers have donated playground equipment at sites along its hike in China.\nIt's the first official international hike permitted in the closed sections by the Great Wall Commission, according to an IU press release.\nThe Web site includes daily reports from participants as they walk along sections of the wall in Beijing. Also included will be letters from the wall for trip participants to reflect upon their adventure, photographs and audio messages.\nOther sections explain trip objectives, give the 11-day itinerary and provide a list of IU trip participants and sponsors.\n"We are delighted to be able to develop this Web site so those interested in this trip, whether they be from Indiana, China or anywhere else in the world, can share our sense of adventure and excitement," Gallahue, also HPER associate dean and coordinator of the Great Wall hike, said in a statement.\nDavid Skirvin, HPER assistant dean for administration, went to China with an advance team April 21.\nSkirvin said the hike is no walk in the park -- parts of the Wall are like a mountain climb. He said participants had to train heavily, walking the steps of Memorial Stadium to prepare. Participants also had to raise money for the $2,000 trip themselves, he said.\nWith all the preparation, Skirvin said the event has been successful so far.\n"We are hoping that it will be a goodwill gesture between the two nations," Skirvin said.\nHe said people in Beijing are already talking about next year. But Skirvin said it's not likely to become a yearly event.