Virtual Staff Healthy Week Distance Challenge

As part of this year’s Staff Healthy Week, the Get Out, Get Active (GOGA) team are bringing you another virtual challenge! Similar to the recent BRIT challenge we hosted, this is an inclusive distance challenge aimed at getting our staff more active through a variety of activities.

What’s involved?

Individuals taking part will work as a team to try and cover as much distance as possible, in whatever way works for them such as walking, jogging, running, hand-cycling, cycling, wheelchair pushing, swimming, rowing etc.

The challenge will be taking part during Staff Healthy Week (7-11 June 2021), and to make things interesting, staff who sign up will be split into two random teams to compete against each other to see which team can cover the most distance across the week.

This challenge is a great way to keep active and connect with other staff across the University community during these remote times, as well as getting outside and enjoying nature.

The Rules

The rules are simple. Upon signing up you will be put in either team A or team B to see which team can cover the most distance. This is just a bit of fun to add some excitement into the challenge!

  • Upon signing up, you will be added to a MS Teams chat. The challenge will be hosted from this Teams chat
  • The challenge begins on Monday 7 June at 00:00. From that point onward, all participants will log their activities via our challenge form throughout the week. Each time you complete an activity such as a walk, run, cycle etc. we ask if you could submit this via the form provided (you can submit multiple activities in one form)
  • We will not be asking for proof of activities, but you are welcome to share screenshots or photos of your activities and words of encouragement to others
  • We aim to provide daily updates of the distance covered by both teams
  • The challenge finishes on Friday 11 June at 16:00. All distance entries must be submitted by then. We will reveal the final distance total and winning team before the weekend

There are a number of different apps you can download to track your activity including:

  • Strava- activity tracker and social network. Available on iOS and Android
  • RunKeeper- running app that can track your runs, including location, distance and pace. It also has training programmes if you need a goal to work towards. Available on iOS and Android
  • StepsApp- any wheelchair users can use this app if you have an Apple watch. Available on iOS and Android
  • Pacer- activity tracker, step counter and more. Available on iOS and Android

Sign up now!

Joining the Healthy Week Distance Challenge is easy – please fill in this short form by midday on Thursday 3 June. You will be added to the MS Teams chat soon after the deadline has passed.

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

To find out what else is happening during Staff Healthy Week, visit the website.