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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

Roosmaryn and Vishuis win residences' cross-country league

2010-09-17

According to Sarina Cronjé of KovieSport at the University of the Free State (UFS), this year’s residences’ cross-country league consisted of six meetings.

The meetings took place in inter-residence format, according to the penalty-point system. All the participants contributed points towards the team total, e.g. first position = 1 point and second position = 2 points, etc. The team with the least points wins. Each residence team consisted of four athletes. If less than four athletes in a team finished, that team was awarded 100 penalty points per athlete for each one less than four athletes. A residence could enter an indefinite number of teams.

Upon completion of the six meetings Roosmaryn won the women’s division, followed by Marjolein in second position and Roosmaryn’s B team in third position. In the men’s division, Vishuis came first, followed by Veritas in the second position and JBM in the third position.

The last meeting, in the form of a 4 x 1 km relay, took place on 1 September 2010. There the team of Kagiso triumphed in the men’s division. Roosmaryn once again won the women’s division.

- Sarina Cronjé

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