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12 April 2019 | Story Valentino Ndaba | Photo Charl Devenish
LJ van Zyl
“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.

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Prof. Johan Willemse appointed on boards of Absa
2008-01-22

Prof. Johan Willemse, Departmental Chairperson of the University of the Free State's (UFS) Department of Agricultural Economics, has been appointed as an independent non-executive director on the boards of Absa Group and Absa Bank with effect from 1 January 2008. He belongs to the South African Agricultural Writers Association, is a regular columnist for various agricultural periodicals, and has been a presenter and programme advisor on national television in respect of agricultural matters. Prof. Willemse also studied at the University of Illinois with a Cochrane Fellowship bursary in 2003. He has his own agriculture consulting business and has won numerous national agricultural awards and achievements. He was a member of the Ministerial Task Group to evaluate the 1992 drought aid to farmers and was appointed by the Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs in 1997 to advise on the implementation of the Marketing of Agricultural Products Act. Prof. Willemse is a specialist on agricultural marketing, strategy and policy formulation.
 


Photo: Supplied

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