Diessenhofen. In the summer of 1971, the Diessenhofen community built a Vita Parcours on the northern edge of the forest on the Buechberg. “It was one of the first Vita Parcours in Switzerland,” says Urban Brütsch, current president of the community. That is also public relations work and that the community likes to do, so Brütsch.
On October 9, 1971, Gustav Wegelin, the then president of the community, inaugurated the facility. A delegation from the then Vita-Versicherung came as sponsor and namesake, as well as representatives of the authorities and other invited guests.
The course has been redesigned several times in the fifty years of its existence and the name has been changed. It is now called “ZURICH vitaparcours”. In the current version there are fifteen posts with a total of 43 exercises, spread over a circuit of 2.2 kilometers, all in the forest. Drawings on blue boards describe what should be done. To the left of the drawing is a colored field. It shows what can be achieved with each exercise. Yellow stands for agility and dexterity, red for strength and blue for endurance.
The sponsor and name giver for the course in Diessenhofen and for around 500 other courses in Switzerland is now the Zurich Insurance Company, into which the Vita insurance was merged. The part of the name “vita” stands for your life insurance division.
Zurich provides the boards free of charge and gives detailed instructions for the construction of the facility. The community was responsible for the course in Diessenhofen. She is responsible for construction, maintenance and renovations. Board member Roland Moresi has been in charge for ten years, before Heinz Brauchli. Equipment needs to be repaired or replaced, the training ground needs to be weeded, the lawn trimmed, trees cut and much more.
Moresi is happy about the cleanliness of the athletes. “I almost never have to collect rubbish”. Because the system is always spotlessly clean, it is more difficult to throw something away, explains Brütsch. The costs for the community are minimal. Any damage is repaired before something more serious can arise from it. “We take many small steps,” says Moresi. When something big is on the agenda, for example clearing work, district forester Jakob Gubler helps. Every three years a delegation from Zurich Insurance comes to take a close look at the course. The safety of the system is checked and whether the devices are set according to regulations.
Moresi is happy about the current increase in visitor numbers. “There are now significantly more athletes than in other years”. One reason is probably the closure of the fitness center due to Corona, suspects Brütsch. These courses are currently experiencing a general renaissance.
Brütsch and Moresi installed a board at the start position. Under the title “50 Years of Vita Parcours”, a short text refers to the commitment of the community. For the time being, nothing more can be done to celebrate the important anniversary. “We would have liked to have celebrated 50 years of history, for example by walking around the forest, but unfortunately because of Corona it is not certain whether a forest can be walked around at all,” said Brütsch.
The Vitaparcours is located southwest of Diessenhofen. The start is at the edge of the forest, at the Tällenacker car park, about 400 meters west of the Tote Maa barbecue area. It is always open, use is free of charge.
Wochenblatt @: Oliver Fiedler- .
