Michael van der Klei on the beach at Old Head.

Get fit having fun outdoors

A DUTCH fitness fanatic wants those trying to get back into shape to abandon the gym for the outdoors, writes Tom Gillespie.

Michael van der Klei of NatuurlijkSportief, who is based in Louisburgh, can be seen working out on Old Head Beach with his ‘unusual’ methods.

Michael (53), who is in training for the 100-mile Connemara road race in August, explained: "NatuurlijkSportief is a Dutch form of words for being naturally extraordinary in moving. This kind of physical activity is easy to practice by anyone anywhere.

"All you need is a piece of nature and your best mood. There are no rules, no limits, no restrictions, not even fixed exercises. All you have to do is go outside and run. If you see a tree, climb it. When you come across a stone, throw it, and when the weather is nice, jump into the first river you find and swim to the other side."

He continued: "Don’t forget, we were born movers! Moving is natural for a child but as we get older we become slower or even fall in a state of inactivity, which is totally against our nature.

"NatuurlijkSportief retrieves the cheerful, carefree feeling everyone had as a child. Sport and movement is often presented as difficult, competitive, prone to injuries and even stressful to achieve results.

"However, physical activity is simple and can be exercised by everyone with no exceptions.

"That is the starting point of NatuurlijkSportief which means having a brilliant time with nice people in the great outdoors, working your socks off and getting strong and fit while having the best of craic."

Michael, who trains six days a week, added: "What I do is I play outside with grown-ups. People are so bored with gyms where if you go today you see a lot of posing, where people want to be seen and be caught on camera. So I got rid of that and brought them outdoors again.

"The scenery we have around Louisburgh is stunning. I deliver the training at Old Head where you see Mulranny, Achill and Clare Island. We throw rocks and it is harder than the gym. It is all year round. It’s great fun.

"I go to the primary school where my lads are and I see what the kids are playing at so I get my clients to play a game of chase where everybody is working on their own level, where one might pick a 50kg rock and another a 5kg rock, and everybody does the same exercises. People are not built for being indoors."

His youngest client is 17 years old and the oldest 65 and as Michael put it: "Everyone is having the best of craic and enjoying it."

Michael used to work in IT in Holland but wanted a new challenge. "I came to Ireland in 2014. The first intention was to go to Donegal as I wanted to start something in the hospitality sector.

"My wife was never in Ireland. She said she fancied the idea of moving but wanted to see it first. In 2013 we flew to Cork, rented a car and we did 2,500 kilometres over several days. We went from Cork to Donegal and back to Wicklow.

"But in Donegal everything was B&B, B&B, so my wife fancied the idea of moving but not to Donegal. We decided to get somewhere between Westport and Dublin and we ended up in Louisburgh where I started a business, but after two years I had to close the door and I started something new in 2017."

Now Michael does group training sessions in Castlebar on Tuesday evening at Lough Lannagh where those attending do running and outdoor fitness. He does sessions in the GMIT on Tuesday and Thursday and Louisburgh is on Thursday evening and Saturday morning.

Michael also teaches people how to run a half-marathon in his running school.

He explained: "I was just running around Louisburgh and I got the idea to organise a run myself." How he wants participants for a 26-mile marathon as well as a gruelling 50-mile ultra-marathon starting in Louisburgh on May 25, the proceeds of which will go to suicide awareness.

The marathon goes from Louisburgh to Westport, Liscarney, Drummin, the Sheeffry Pass, Doolough and back to Louisburgh.

Michael joked: "I don’t call it a marathon. It’s a scene adventure. It is like a miniature Mayo - you have Clew Bay, the mountains, Doolough and the Atlantic Ocean."

The ultra starts at 7 a.m. and the marathon at 10 a.m. It costs €55 to enter the marathon and €75 for the ultra where a competitive runner will do it in about seven hours with a cut-off time of 11 hours.

People can enter the race through the website www.wau50.com.

Michael added: "I can see this turning into a big annual event. I am organising another event in October which will be even more gruelling than this one.

"I am planning a 100-mile off-road race over The Western Way, starting in Westport and going all the way to Ballycastle in north Mayo where participants will turn around and come back again."

Michael can be contacted on (083) 8520208 or email michael@natuurlijksportief.ie while the marathon can be entered through www.wau50.com.

 

 

* Do you have a story to tell about your business? If so, Tom Gillespie would be delighted to hear from you. Get in touch at (087) 9680780 or gillespietom49@gmail.com.