In bright and breezy weather, crowds of families turned out for the activity, which consisted of a 3.5km walk around a specially created outdoor and indoor circuit around the Aspire Zone. More than 2,500 people walked the full distance of the track, with the participants awarded an Aspire ‘goody bag’ for their efforts.

It is estimated that most walkers would have burned up to 450 calories, totalling over a million calories. The ‘5,000 Step Journey,’ organised by Aspetar as part of its highly-acclaimed ‘Step into Health’ programme, was designed to encourage healthy eating and daily physical activity. 

Hans Baker travelled to Qatar with his family all the way from Australia just to be in Doha for NSD, having been intrigued by the idea, and took part in the ‘Family Boot Camp’ session.

“I found that I’ve still got it despite the fact that I’m a 70-year-old grandfather,” he said. Elsewhere at Aspire six male teams participated in the Qatar Flag Football league, a sport similar to American football.

Youssef al-Kuwari, founder of the Qatar Flag American Football Club, said that significant interest in this sport was galvanised at last year’s National Sport Day.

“In 2012 we only had seven players who gathered in a park and played just for fun and now we are proud to announce that with the continuing support of Aspire Zone Foundation, we have six teams, 50 registered players and four International professional coaches, with a dedicated field for our training sessions at Aspire.”