The Keep Moving Challenge has ended. Throughout the month of March, 866 participants – UAntwerp staff and students – did a lot of extra walking, running and cycling, registering the minutes they were physically active. They ultimately raised 4550 euros for the fund for students in financial need.
After the resounding success of the Millionaire Team Step Challenge last December, we took things up a notch in March with the Keep Moving Challenge. The goal was to collect 2400 exercise minutes in one month per group of four staff members or students. Whenever walking, running or cycling, participants dutifully recorded those minutes of activity.
For every team that reached the final goal, the university pledged to donate a fixed amount to the fund for students in financial need due to the COVID-19 crisis. Some of the participants donated not only their time, but some extra money as well. All in all, we raised 4550 euros, 510 euros of which were donations by university staff members.
Alors on Bouge
The Lokomotiv Univ team was the first to reach the target of 2400 exercise minutes. Ultimately they came in second place, with a total of 12 830 minutes of activity. That’s about 4000 minutes shy of the amazing result obtained by their colleagues in Alors on Bouge, the absolute winners of our Keep Moving Challenge with a whopping 17 074 minutes of exercise.
Alors on Bouge is a group of colleagues from the Department of Applied Linguistics – Translation and Interpreting. Gert Vercauteren emailed everyone in the department, and immediately got enthusiastic responses from Sabien Hanoulle, Anne Verhaert and Esther De Boe. ‘We don’t have any sporting history together as a team, but we did know one other to be active go-getters, including on the job: let’s go, chop chop, time to get on with it, let’s take the bull by the horns. Speaking of animals, our first name was ‘Pot-bellied Pigs’, because you can keep them as pets, and Gert once spent hours chasing one that kept escaping.’
However, the ladies weren’t too keen on that name and so they came up with ‘Alors on Bouge’: ‘Just like Stromae got everyone to dance a few years back with Alors on danse, we wanted to get everyone moving. We deliberately chose a French name because we all teach Romance languages. It can also be something you say to yourself after a long Teams meeting, or yet another online lecture. In times of frustration, when things seem to be at a standstill, you need an outlet to maintain your mental well-being.’
2400 minutes, seven times over
In collecting exercise minutes, the colleagues of Alors on Bouge mainly registered what they normally do: go for walks with the dog, cycle to campus, run, do HIIT work-outs, and so on. ‘We just did everything a little longer than usual, and planned extra walks or bike rides in between. Unfortunately, since we live far apart, we weren’t able to do that together, but every morning we would encourage one another to go out and enjoy the sunshine, or to stretch our legs and get some fresh air even if it was raining.’
Since the Keep Moving Challenge was not about counting steps, but about recording minutes of any physical activity, there was a lot of diversity in the types of exercise. ‘You can even work out at home: find an uplifting playlist on Spotify, and then do two songs of rope skipping alternated with one song of strength training per muscle group. Or on a beautiful spring day, nothing beats a 12 km morning run before the nine o’clock meeting or online class. The wandelknooppunt.be app also worked overtime. It’s so great to plan a weekend getaway during your break at work, and then head out to the Kalmthoutse Heide, the Turnhoutse Vennen, or the abbey of Westmalle… unfortunately without a well-deserved Trappist beer afterwards, this time.’
All of these activities together ensured that Alors on Bouge reached their goal no less than seven times over. ‘It was such a fun initiative. And very exciting at times, when you saw someone else in the top spot. Then we encouraged one another to go the extra mile. Participation is obviously more important than winning, but secretly we did like the competitive element. It was also great to talk about something other than work for a change, which is why we’re planning to keep moving, by setting new exercise goals for ourselves.’
1 109 882
All in all, 202 of the 238 participating teams achieved the final goal of 2400 exercise minutes: 62 student teams and 176 staff teams. Together, the participants spent 1 109 882 minutes exercising for a good cause. Let’s keep this going – let’s keep moving!
Top 10 – Keep Moving Challenge – March 2021
- Alors on Bouge – 17 074.2
- Lokomotiv Univ – 12 830.4
- The Unicorns – 12 254.3
- Top Team – 11 669.3
- Team Sport – 11 668.8
- UsainBib-CST – 10 907.5
- Kimikace – 10 215.8
- Wervelende Owers – 9998.1
- The Blondies! – 9936
- Scrambled Legs – 9864.8
Top 3 staff teams
- Alors on Bouge
- Lokomotiv Univ
- The Unicorns
Top 3 student teams
- Top Team
- Sportraad
- Biomove