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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

Anti-Racism Network South Africa launched in Free State

2016-04-19

Description: Anti-Racism Network South Africa Tags: Anti-Racism Network South Africa

Ms Nokuthula Sithole, Dr Danny Titus, and Mr Qondile Khedama
Photo: Lihlumelo Toyana

“Racism is, and has been, alive among us as the people of South Africa for a long time, and we therefore need organisations such as ARNSA to create spaces for us to speak up on issues of racism.” The Executive Mayor of the Mangaung Metro Municipality, Counsellor Thabo Manyoni, urged South Africans and the people of the local Metro to speak up on issues relevant to racism. He was speaking at the launch of the Free State chapter of the Anti-racism Network of South Africa (ARNSA) in Bloemfontein.

The Institute for Reconciliation and Social Justice (IRSJ) at the University of the Free State (UFS) is partnered in this endeavour by the Mangaung Metro Municipality, the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation, the Foundation for Human Rights, the Nelson Mandela Foundation, Churches against Racism in Southern Africa (CARS) and the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development.

The ARNSA launch was followed by a dialogue led by Dr Danny Titus, Mr Qondile Khedama, and Prof Christina Landman. JC van der Merwe, the Deputy Director of the IRSJ at the UFS, said that the ARNSA initiative has the potential to unite all South Africans in appreciating and respecting the humanity of all people, as well as to mobilise people to fight against racism. His sentiments were echoed by Sean Moodley, the national ARNSA coordinator. Moodley said that we all have to take on racism; to learn about it, speak out against it, and act to stop it.

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