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Four universities to walk 200 000 km in ten weeks

12 April 2019 | Story Valentino Ndaba | Photo Charl Devenish

“May the best team win the 2019 BestMed Pedometer Challenge!” said LJ van Zyl, Pedometer Challenge ambassador.

Participants in the 2019 BestMed Pedometer Challenge will start improving their health step by step after the University of the Free State (UFS) challenged the Stellenbosch University, Central University of Technology, and North-West University (NWU) to an eight-week walking competition.

South African 400-metre hurdles record-holder and the Pedometer Challenge ambassador, LJ van Zyl, embraced the initiative as an alternative method to achieve fitness. “I am so tired of running and this is great way to stay fit,” he said during the official launch on the UFS Bloemfontein Campus on 5 April 2019.

Inter-institutional fight for fitness

Last year, the UFS Division for Organisational Development and Employment Wellness in the Department of Human Resources led a UFS-only challenge that saw 60 teams of staff members log a total of 54 606 km in eight weeks. The division then challenged the NWU.

Together, the NWU and UFS walked 132 000 km. This year, the UFS is taking it one step further by challenging two more institutions.

Leading the way

“We aim to get South Africa active – starting with the UFS – by embracing fitness and health ourselves,” said Arina Engelbrecht, UFS Employee Wellness Specialist.

Participants on all fitness and activity levels will gun for a 200 000 km target over 10 weeks.

The challenge kicked off on the Bloemfontein Campus with a 3-km walk at the launch, leaving 199 997 km between the four universities for the rest of the eight-week challenge.

News Archive

Dweller control discussed at the UFS

2008-10-24

Prof. Lochner Marais, from the Centre for Development Support at the University of the Free State (UFS), recently delivered his inaugural lecture on the Main Campus in Bloemfontein. The title of the lecture was: "Dweller control: The missing link in South African housing policy". According to Prof. Marais the concept of dweller control has not been adequately translated into policy. “Very few people have any say in the planning, design and cost implications of their housing units. If the housing process does not make provision for dweller control and the management thereof, people will not appreciate what the state has given them. There is too much state involvement and control," said Prof. Marais. Here are, from the left: Prof. Marais, Prof. Teuns Verschoor, Acting Rector of the UFS, Prof. Lucius Botes, head of the Centre for Development Support, and Prof. Tienie Crous, Acting Vice-Rector: Academic Operations at the UFS.
Photo: Stephen Collett

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