GOGA Winter Step Challenge for staff – w/c 7th December

We’re excited to introduce our first ever virtual step challenge exclusively for staff members at Leeds.

We are hoping that you will join us for our week-long step challenge from Monday 7th December 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 abilities are welcome, and we can motivate each other to get active!

The Winter 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 7th December at 00:00. From that point onwards all team members will individually log their steps in our challenge form throughout the week. You can either do this after each activity or submit a daily total at the end of the day, whatever is easiest for you! 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 Winter Step Challenge chat on MS Teams.
  • The challenge finishes on Sunday 13th December at 23:59. The team accumulating the most steps overall “wins” the step challenge. The winner will be revealed on Monday 14th December.     

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 body of water- e.g. canal, reservoir, river
  2. Photo of an animal- you can get as creative as you like!
  3. Photo of an Evergreen tree- g. Christmas tree, holly etc.

Bonuses

  • 1,000 steps awarded to the winner of the best photo in each photo category
  • 750 steps awarded for second place in each photo category
  • 500 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 5pm on Wednesday 2nd  December. You will then be added to the Winter Step Challenge Teams chat.

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