S.W.E.E.T.

This weekend, I attended an event at a local outdoor shop. It was a women’s only event called SWEET, which stands for Sporty Women’s Empowering Evening of Tips and advice. The event was a smashing success, with about 450 women descending on Bushtukah on Sunday evening.

The evening included inspirational speakers, a fashion show, food and giveaways. I applaud Bushtukah for focusing specifically on the women’s market. While the fitness industry does address the women’s market with products and marketing, the outdoor industry is slower to get on the bandwagon.

I was also pleased at how the event was executed. The evening used real women to inspire other women from a variety of aspects, including:

• A fashion show which featured store staff of all shapes and sizes
• Advice from experts who were female small business owners
• Words of wisdom from three inspirational speakers: an Olympian (who ran the first women’s marathon in 1984), a breast cancer survivor (who climbed Mount Kilimanjaro) and a road cyclist turned mountain biker and B&B owner.

The women who attended ranged in age from 10 to 60+ and included couch potatoes as well as Iron(wo)man Triathletes. I’ll write more about the wise words provided by the speakers. In the meantime, I think an event like this point out that you’re never too old to get and stay fit.