Peninsula College On The Move
Together we can make Washington the Healthiest State in the Nation!
What a wild and wonderful six-week ride it has been—and it’s not over yet! There are still a few days left to log your miles for the 2009 Governor’s Health Bowl. It’s easy! Just head over to our website at HealthiestState.org.
Any miles logged before midnight on Friday, November 6 will count toward this year’s total. And while it appears that it will be difficult to break the Health Bowl record we set in 2008, it has been a spectacular year! The 40,000 individual champions, 1,300 organizations and 400 K-12 schools engaged in our Campaign logged more than three million miles of health—an incredible accomplishment.
To put that number in perspective, it is the equivalent of traveling around the world—75 times!
The Healthiest State Campaign wants to extend a heartfelt thanks to the tens of thousands of people who helped make this year’s Governor’s Health Bowl a huge success!
HEALTH BOWL LEADERS
Final results will be announced next week. We will be crowning champions in both the total and average mile categories.
Organizations
- Evergreen State Volkssporting Association
- International Christian Cycling Club
- United General Hospital
Government Agencies
- WA State Patrol
- WA State Dept. of Transportation
- Health & Recovery Services
Colleges & Universities
- Peninsula College
- Edmonds Community College
- Washington State University
Communities
- Olympia – 98504
- Auburn – 98001
- Bothell – 98012
Elementary Schools
- Columbia Ridge Elementary
- Keene-Riverview Elementary
- Riverview Elementary
Middle Schools
- Bridgeport Middle School
- Assumption Catholic School
- Oak Harbor Middle School
High Schools
- Pateros
- International School
- Bridgeport HS
Olympic Discovery Trail Virtual Challenge
Report One from the Olympic Wellness Coalition
It seems like only yesterday that we were all enjoying a beautiful sunny day at the Kick Off event for the six-week Olympic Discovery Trail Virtual Challenge. However, we’re already at the two-week mark and hundreds of people are showing their gusto as this community racks up millions and millions of steps along the Olympic Discovery Trail.
Leading the charge with Most Steps Traveled to Date is Peninsula College with 5,980,000 steps. They are currently joined in an epic battle with the Olympic Medical Center who is right behind with 5,862,000 steps. It’s definitely too close to call with four weeks still to go. As it happens, Peninsula College is also engaged in a simultaneous contest with other Washington State Colleges. In that competition they are truly blowing away the field with second-place Edmonds College way back at less than half their total. (WSU is in third place and UW is in seventh). It sure shows the level of the local competition. Getting into the spirit, Peninsula College has also organized a number of special events during the Challenge that are open to the public. These include a Sequim to Port Angeles Bike Run and a Qi Gong class this Saturday (call Rick Ross at 417-6533 for more info).
Meanwhile, the Olympic Medical Center has divided itself into four teams and have a fascinating internal competition going. Based on average steps per participants (team sizes vary greatly), the “Exercise Junkies” lead the pack with 88,154 steps per participant. However, this race is far from over with the “Fitness Fools” believing their superior commitment will ultimately seize the day. As they note, “The difference between involvement and commitment is like a ham and eggs breakfast: the chicken is involved – the pig is committed.”
Speaking of Average Steps per Participant (at least 50 team members) Clallam County employees leads in this category with 87,497. That’s an outstanding effort by Clallam County although their success shows that being the fittest doesn’t necessarily mean you’re not the least mixed up. One member turned in her totals under the name Sandra Sotomayor…. hmmm. We’d be remiss if we also didn’t note that Housing Authority, with just four team members, totaled 118,250 average steps per participant.
A couple of teams that are definitely still in the hunt are the Clallam County PUD and OlyCAP. To date, the PUD has accumulated 4,137,614 steps and OlyCAP 1,984,275. Outstanding efforts all. OlyCAP has created a great in-house newsletter for the Challenge, “OlyTrekkers” where folks can compare notes, provide each other support and just have fun. The PUD has also found ways to up the fun quotient including a big Healthy Dinner utilizing local foods planned for next week.
It’s been an incredible start for the Challenge and, more importantly a great kick off to a healthier community. Several participating organizations have yet to make their reports so it’s almost scary to see what we can accomplish when we work together. After just two weeks, our grand total of reported steps is 23,024,884. It’s humbling to realize that that many steps would almost take us half-way around the world! For more information about the Olympic Wellness Coalition contact Dan Maguire at daisy@olypen.com. You can also check our brand new website at olympicwellnesscoalition.ning.com.
Dan Maguire