A city designed for fitness

A move to Irvine nearly 20 years ago converted Mitch Atkinson from couch potato to a triathlon junkie.

“I got into endurance sports, and my life changed,” says Atkinson, a dual citizen who was working for Pepsi in Nova Scotia, Canada, in 2008 when his employer transferred him to Southern California. “Now I train every day, and swim, bike and run every week.”

Atkinson’s story reflects the success of a city that was master planned for the well-being of its residents. More than 60 years ago, the same urban designers who were determined to attract clean industries to the city also planned Irvine around parks, recreation and quality of life. Earlier this year, Trust for Public Land ranked Irvine No. 2 in the nation among 100 large U.S. cities for the quality of its parks.

The city’s accolades for well-being don’t stop there. The American College of Sports Medicine Fitness Index this year ranked Irvine as America’s seventh-fittest city, crediting factors that include the parks and recreation infrastructure. Irvine’s 22 villages were designed around shared gathering places – parks, pools, schools and recreation or community centers. Atkinson’s village of Woodbury has a 30-acre space with seven pools, three tennis courts and four pickleball courts.

Atkinson’s wife, Vivian, chose Irvine for its high-performing schools, and after barely one year, the two were so delighted with their new home in Woodbury that he switched careers. Today the couple run a recruiting business together and on weekends often run marathons together. She joined the SoCal Triathlon Team, where Atkinson is one of five directors, and both are now training for the Boston Marathon.

Irvine’s year-round weather is a lot more conducive to outdoor sports than in Nova Scotia. But more important, Atkinson says, are facilities, opportunities and attitudes. Soon after he moved here, he started swimming with a Nova Masters team at the William Woollett Jr. Aquatics Center at Heritage Park, widely recognized as one of the region’s premier municipal swimming venues. He also enjoys cycling along Irvine’s more than 113 miles of off-street bike trails, particularly Jeffrey Open Space Trail and Hicks Canyon and Quail Hill trails.

“The roads are beautiful, and when you compare cycling in Irvine to doing that in adjacent communities, you can tell there’s so much thoughtfulness in the planning – the bike lanes and trails are so large and well-maintained,” Atkinson says. He also thinks Irvine’s community is relatively more accepting of cyclists. “Maybe because there are so many cyclists on the road that people realize it’s part of what to expect. In other cities, drivers seem to have a sense that cyclists are doing something wrong or don’t belong there. I can’t remember ever feeling that way in Irvine.”