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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

UFS takes a leading role in nuclear medicine and technology

2011-12-06

Photo: Dr Glen Taylor

The University of the Free State (UFS) continues to play an active role in the field of Nuclear Medicine and the use of nuclear technology in the biosciences. Dr Glen Taylor, Director of Research Commercialisation and Business Development at the UFS, was recently elected chairperson of the board for the Nuclear Technologies in Medicine and the Biosciences Initiative (NTeMBI).

The UFS is currently one of three centres of excellence in the country identified by the Nuclear Energy Corporation South African (Necsa) to roll out the capacity development programme and increase technology coming from nuclear medicine and technology.

NTeMBI is a national technology platform that is managed by Necsa and supported by the Department of Science and Technology (DST). It functions as a high-level Research, Development and Innovation (RD&I) initiative that will implement new strategic initiatives relating to research and development on nuclear technologies in medicine and the biosciences on a local, regional and international level.

One of the roles Dr Taylor will perform as Chairperson of the board of NTeMBI, is to enhance the exposure of nuclear technology in medicine and the biosciences. Dr Taylor says the aim is to increase the skills base in South Africa. “I realise it is one of the scare skills in the country.”

The UFS already received a significant amount of funding from the grant of R4 million per annum made available from the Department of Science and Technology (DST) to implement NTeMBI projects.

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