Legion member Kim Peters is in training for one of the most exciting events of her life: the 101st Nijmegen March in the Netherlands taking place July 18-21, 2017.
Peters, a member of Branch 530 for the past eight years, has been selected by the Royal Canadian Legion to be part of a VIP contingent in the annual event that attracts more than 40,000 walkers from around the world. The four-day march, which starts and ends in the Dutch city of Nijmegen, takes teams along a route that passes through picturesque villages and wooded surroundings. But while the setting may be idyllic, the test is grueling as Peters and her team will march for 40 km each day for four days.
Fortunately, Peters is no stranger to these kinds of endurance tests. She has taken part in four-day hikes in the Rocky Mountains, on the Bow Glacier, and on tundra in Churchill, Man.
“I’m super pumped to have been selected as a member of a Nijmegen team and having the experience of a lifetime,” she says. “It’s hard to find the words to express how grateful I am to the Royal Canadian Legion for giving me this amazing opportunity.”
Along with her day job working with at-risk and homeless youth, Peters also is the commanding officer of 1882 The Wellington Rifles Army Cadet Corps in Guelph. An active Legion member, she volunteers as the Waterloo branch secretary, is a member of its colour party, and visits shut-in Veterans and hospitalized community members on behalf of the branch. If all that weren’t enough to keep her busy, Peters also volunteers with the local St. John Ambulance as a medical first responder.
“It sounds as if this challenging walk may give Comrade Peters a bit of a break from her very busy life,” says Dominion President Dave Flannigan. “We know she will do us proud.”
Background
For more than a decade, The Royal Canadian Legion has been supporting the Canadian Armed Forces contingent so that they may visit Canada’s birthplace as a nation, forged under fire during the battle of Vimy Ridge while in Europe. In return, the CAF has been kind enough to allow the Legion to send one of its members to be a part of the CAF contingent during the Nijmegen March.
For more information on this event, please visit the official website of the Nijmegen March at http://www.4daagse.nl/en/ .
About The Royal Canadian Legion
Founded in 1925, the Legion is Canada’s largest Veteran support and community service organization. We are a non-profit organization with a national reach across Canada as well as branches in the U.S., Europe and Mexico. With more than 275,000 members, many of whom volunteer an extraordinary amount of time to their branches, our strength is in our numbers.
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