Walk21 Toronto 2007 was proud to be part of the Canada-wide World Record Walk, which was a highly anticipated event for many Walk21 conference participants and City of Toronto staff. Official results showed that 231,635 people across Canada participated – more than doubling the previous record!  Visit www.worldrecordwalk.ca for details.

Led by Green Communities Canada with support from the City of Toronto and a Communities In Action Fund grant from the Ontario Ministry of Health Promotion, this exciting event took place on Wednesday, October 3, 2007, at 12:30 pm EST. Municipalities, schools, workplaces, trails organizations and walking/hiking clubs were all urged to organize a simple one-kilometre walk, publicize their event, and report the results.

The goal was to break the existing Guinness World Record for the largest number of people walking one kilometre simultaneously. The previous record was set in September 2006 by Western Australia with just over 100,000 participants. Although Ontario was confident of smashing Western Australia's record on its own, other provinces were encouraged to join in the world record attempt in the spirit of friendly competition, with the outcome being a much bigger Canada-wide total. Alberta, which held the record in 2005, gladly accepted the challenge and so did British Columbia.

There were approximately 2,000 participating events in Canada. The broader message of promoting walking to school, creating walkable communities, and walking for health was picked up extensively by the media and was front page news in many communities across Canada. Close to a quarter of all municipalities in the province of Ontario participated. Some communities used the walk to showcase new town squares, cycling and walking master plans, trails, other green initiatives, or to highlight and launch physical activity strategies.

Schools were the backbone of the World Record Walk. In Ontario alone, more than 1,000 schools held a one-kilometre walk as part of their ongoing Active and Safe Routes to School program. The World Record Walk was also set to coordinate with International Walk to School Day events that took place across Canada on October 3.