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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

Meet Dr Mpho Jama, Prestige Scholar

2013-07-26

Prof Jonathan Jansen, Vice-Chancellor and Rector (right), visited Dr Jama at UCLA on his recent trip to the USA where this photograph was taken with Prof Bill Worger of UCLA’s History Department. Dr Jama will return to the UFS in December 2013.
26 July 2013

Dr Mpho Jama, Fulbright scholar, is a lecturer in Health Sciences Education and a member of the Vice-Chancellor's Prestige Scholars Programme since 2011. She is currently hosted by the Graduate School of Education at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), funded by Fulbright.

At UCLA, Dr Jama is collaborating with the David Geffen School of Medicine on a research paper focusing on stress among medical students.

She also works in collaboration with the Higher Education Research Institute on psycho-social and spiritual support for students in higher education with specific emphasis on medical students. Dr Jama has joined the Research Apprenticeship Committee of the Institute and participates in its activities.

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