Staff tot up nearly 6,000 miles through Commit to Get Far
Nine staff teams took part in the annual Commit to Get Far challenge from 13-23 January, accumulating a total of 5,783 miles. This year’s event crisscrossed the country with a virtual Tour de UK, ‘visiting’ major cities along the way.
David Morris, Prof Kwame Akyeampong and Prof Mairead Dunne from the School of Education and Social Work
Team members took part in a virtual 'Tour de UK' during the ten day challenge
Staff were encouraged to walk, run, swim and cycle to rack up miles for the challenge. Each mile travelled by a team member counted towards the team’s total and every 15 minutes spent on other sport or wellbeing activities, such as Zumba, spin or yoga, also contributed one mile.
Sussex staff got free access to sport and exercise facilities on campus for the duration of Commit to Get Far. As an added challenge, staff were encouraged to compete in an activity decathlon and try out a specific activity for each for the ten days.
Su Mitchell collected a winning hamper on behalf of the Institute of Development Studies (DS). Su said:
“It’s brilliant! We are dead chuffed. This was a good experience for us as it meant that people who don’t work with each other had the chance to get together to take part in activities.
“Several people are now doing more exercise than they were before the challenge - and some have now formed an informal badminton league.”
The virtual route started in Aberdeen and visited major cities in Northern Ireland, Wales and England before finishing in Dover on the final day of the ‘journey’. Teams were given the opportunity to win treats throughout the event by posting photos of their activity.
Almost half the teams reached their final destination by the end of the challenge, with many of those exceeding the 829-mile distance. In total, teams nearly covered the distance between London and Tokyo.
Dr Rebecca Webb from the School of Education and Social Work said:
"We’ve really enjoyed the challenge and we’re going to try to keep up a once-a-week department session to meet and either walk, jog or cycle. Doing this challenge together has been a way for some of us to have contact that we don’t usually have in the course of a week.”
The schools, departments and units that entered teams achieved the following miles:
|
966 miles |
|
466 miles |
|
948 miles |
|
430 miles |
|
505 miles |
|
857 miles |
|
829 miles |
|
177 miles |
|
605 miles |
Commit to Get Far is part of Sussexsport’s ‘Commit to’ staff programme, which includes Commit to Get Fit month in May, the annual boundary walk and run, a staff rounders tournament, Fundraising Friday and a beach volleyball tournament in July.