Walking association leads national efforts to promote the walking sport

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia – The Mongolian Walking Association (MWA) has started leading national efforts to promote wide-range walking across the country by establishing branches in major cities and organizing the walking routes, in addition to hanging signs wherever possible.

The 2,000 odd member association is also creating a standard electronic platform to collect walking points for miles traveled, regardless of whether they walk in any region of Mongolia.

Bolor-Erdene, the Chairman of the MWA, said Mongolia enjoys interesting geographical structure with many deserts in the south, the Gobi Desert in the south, the world’s largest fertile steppe in the east, forests with high mountains and ridges in the north, and rocks in the west.

He said that tourists could learn more about Mongolians’ nomadic culture and make friends through walking.

He referred to the efforts of related agencies to place road signs and markings for pedestrians in a way that is understandable to international and domestic pedestrians and make the routes very clear.

“The Mongolian Pedestrian Association has successfully introduced international pedestrian signage standards. In addition, Mongolian government agencies such as the Capital City Tourism Department, the State Committee for Physical Culture and Sports, the Institute of Public Health, and the Ministry of Tourism are involved,” he added.

MWA’s Chairman said that his association has set an immediate goal to build an infrastructure that will enable people to walk anywhere in Mongolia.

Altansukh, a member of the MWA, said that they give instructions to pedestrians before they start, including “where to walk, how many kilometers to walk, how to be orderly, and explain the warm-up and road obstacles.” 

“People who have not learned to walk well are starting to walk for the first time, which can lead to chest pain and shortness of breath,” Altansukh added.

A walker interviewed expressed his happiness and satisfaction for joining MWA in hiking, urging people to join the walk and get out of their cars.