GOGA February Step Challenge for staff – w/c 1st February

Before Christmas we hosted our first ever virtual step challenge exclusively for staff members at Leeds. 90 staff members took part and collectively we travelled as far as Dubai or Washington DC! The winning team “Walking in a Winter Wanderland” clocked up an impressive 742,399 steps over the week long challenge.

We are hoping that you will join us for another week-long step challenge from Monday 1st February to encourage you to move more this winter. Whether that’s going for a walk or a run on your lunch break or simply making an effort to take more mini breaks in between work meetings.

Join our fun and social step challenge and meet other colleagues from across the University staff community. You don’t have to be a keen walker to take part; all walking abilities are welcome, and we can motivate each other to get active!

The February Step Challenge rules are simple

  • Each step challenge team consists of 6 people. We will allocate you to a randomly assigned team. We encourage you to create your own themed team names once you are grouped.
  • The challenge begins on Monday 1st February at 00:00. From that point onward all team members will individually log their steps in our challenge form throughout the week. We encourage you to submit a daily total of steps at the end of each day. Please see information below about how you can track your steps.
  • Participants upload their step selfies, photos and words of encouragement to others to the February Step Challenge chat on MS Teams.
  • The challenge finishes on Sunday 7th February 23:59. The team accumulating the most steps overall “wins” the step challenge. The winners will be revealed on Monday 8th February.

Apps to measure your steps

Most smartphones have an in-built fitness/health app that will measure your steps when your device is on you. For example, Health on iOS and Google Fit on Android.

Please see below for some further suggestions on apps that track step count:

  • Pacer- activity tracker, step counter and more. Available on iOS and Android
  • Fitbit- you don’t actually need a Fitbit tracker in order to use the Fitbit app. This app can record your steps. Available on iOS and Android
  • GoogleFit- in built on Android phones but also available on iOS
  • MapMyWalk- similar to its running counterpart, MapMyWalk tracks your walk and displays your route on a map. It records various stats including step count and distance. Available on iOS and Android
  • StepsApp- any wheelchair users can use this app if you have an Apple watch. Available on iOS and Android

Running apps

  • Strava
  • MapMyRun
  • Runkeeper

If you don’t have the tech to support any of the above apps then there are affordable pedometers you can purchase from the likes of Amazon.

Photo bonuses

There are some bonuses available to help motivate you and get your team to the finish line. There are 3 photo bonus categories:

  1. Photo of a bird
  2. Photo of a sunrise/sunset
  3. Photo of an architectural feature- e.g. buildings, bridges, churches etc.

Bonuses

  • 3,000 steps awarded to the winner of the best photo in each photo category
  • 2,000 steps awarded for second place in each photo category
  • 1,000 steps awarded for third place in each photo category

Don’t worry, you don’t have to be in the photo if that’s not your thing.

At a time of year when it can be difficult to motivate yourself to get outside given the darkness and the weather, this is a great chance to virtually “meet” people whilst keeping yourself active.

Joining the step challenge is easy – please fill in this short form by 12pm on Tuesday 26th January. You will then be added to the February Step Challenge Teams chat.

If you’ve got any questions, please send us an email. We’d love to hear from you.