How to reach Rio this summer
Have you signed up to reach Rio this spring and summer?
There’s still time for teams to sign up to this year’s Reaching Rio workplace challenge. But you’d better hurry – the challenge starts next week.
Reaching Rio is the annual challenge taking teams on a virtual route from London to Rio. The challenge this year runs from Monday April 13 to Sunday July 5.
It’s open to all West Sussex workplaces. Teams (to be made up of five people) can sign up at www.reachingrio.org.
From walking to football, dance to swimming, activity is converted into miles and takes teams on their virtual route. They just need to log all activity on the website or via the smart phone app.
Amazon vouchers worth £125 are up for grabs for the first team to reach Rio and there are also chances to win prizes on the journey.
The challenge is backed by the West Sussex Health and Wellbeing Board.
Chairman Christine Field said: “I’ve signed up and will be taking part with my team of members from the West Sussex Health and Wellbeing Board.
“Any adult can join in. It is a 12 week challenge as research shows that if we make a lifestyle change and stick with it for 12 weeks, we have a good chance of making that change a lasting one.
“So what are you waiting for? Get some work colleagues and sign up for a healthy spring and summer challenge!”
There are already 103 teams signed up to take part in this year’s Reaching Rio challenge.
Last year teams managed to burn 8,303,422 calories, travel 971,439 miles between London and Rio and log 19,603 hours of physical activity.
The Reaching Rio website features a virtual map of the route to Rio, a leader board, prizes available to be won and calorie burn statistics. New this year is a messaging system where teams can talk to other teams about the challenge and how they are finding it.
Participants will be asked to complete a survey before they start Reaching Rio so at the end of the challenge, changes to lifestyles can be measured.
Over the course of Reaching Rio 2014:
• 64,191 activities were logged.
• 69,507 hours 20 minutes of physical activity were logged.
• 2,868,287 miles were travelled between London and Rio
• In total 27,782,944 calories were burned (That’s enough to power a Nissan Leaf electric car for approximately 111,132 miles)
To find out more, visit the Reaching Rio website at www.reachingrio.org.
It’s recommended that adults should aim for 30 minutes physical activity on five or more days a week.
People who do regular physical activity have a lower risk of many chronic diseases such as heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, strokes and some cancers. It can also boost self-esteem and mood, as well as reduce the risk of stress, depression and dementia.