Something as simple as a group of kids playing some street hockey, families enjoying some ice skating, or even playing a game of Tag could go a long way in helping the Town of Outlook win up to $10,000.
The town is entered in the 鈥楪o Out and Play鈥� Challenge, a joint venture by the Saskatchewan Blue Cross and Sask In Motion that encourages participating communities to get out and be active by tallying physical activity minutes and awarding the highest numbers with cash prizes.
The ten-day challenge kicks off tomorrow, running from March 1-10.
Should Outlook end up as the winning location, the prize money will help fund the completion of the playground located on the grounds of the Jim Kook Rec Plex.
But the competition out there is pretty stiff, with 44 other communities vying for the top prize for their respective projects and initiatives.聽 In nearby Davidson, they hope to win in order to fund solar lighting along their community walking trail, while in Delisle, they want to put big money towards developing a spray park.
If Outlook is to win $10K, participants ranging from groups and families to businesses and individuals may have to think big.
But the task ahead, which may seem daunting, certainly isn鈥檛 impossible.聽 The nearby village of Kenaston was last year鈥檚 top community in the challenge, winning the $10,000 grand prize by logging more than 419,650 minutes of physical activity in the allotted ten days.聽 To help encourage physical activity among its residents and rack up those minutes, Kenaston鈥檚 rec board did things such as offering free fitness classes, holding skating parties, and even school and community-wide walks around town.
The challenge, which is online-based, works as follows:
- You log on to the Go Out and Play website and register by creating a profile.
- You can create a profile either as an individual or as a family.
- You鈥檒l be asked which community you want to support with your physical activity minutes.聽 (in this case, Outlook)
- Once you click 鈥楻egister鈥�, you鈥檒l receive an email and you鈥檒l be asked to verify your account.
- Once you鈥檝e verified your account, you can sign in and begin logging your physical activity minutes when the challenge begins on March 1.
- Your account page will show a Record Activity section, where you鈥檒l log your minutes and detail how you were active and where it took place; and Activity Summary, which details your overall contributions.
Kids under 13 years of age cannot create individual profiles, but they can be part of a family profile created by a parent/guardian.聽 As well, school-based physical activity programs are not eligible for the Go Out and Play Challenge; for instance, gym class.聽 However, teachers and students are still encouraged to find other ways to be active at school, of which those minutes would count on one鈥檚 profile.
A few key items and rules to know about the challenge:
- Up to 120 minutes per day per individual can be logged.
- If you miss logging your activity minutes one day, they can鈥檛 be logged the next, so remembering to log your daily activity is crucial.
- Participants do not need to be residents of Saskatchewan or the community where they are allocating their minutes.
- Each individual and family can create only one profile, which includes unique personal information.聽 Sask In Motion will be monitoring all profiles to ensure that individuals do not create duplicate profiles.
- Family profiles may include grandparents.
- Schools cannot allocate the minutes of physical activity done by their students.
If the rules and boiler-plate material is a bit of a turn-off, essentially the possibilities surrounding the Go Out and Play Challenge break down as follows:
Say a family of five takes two hours out of an afternoon to build some snowmen.聽 They can sign in to their profile and log 120 minutes per family member, or 600 total minutes.
Or say a group of 15 people go out and walk around town for a couple of hours.聽 That鈥檚 120 minutes multiplied by 15 people with registered profiles, a total of 1800 minutes.
Or perhaps four groups split the ice at the rink and play some hockey for a couple of hours.聽 That would certainly make for a large chunk of physical activity minutes.
The possibilities seem to be endless, all in the name of getting people out and active, and possibly even helping Outlook win some money for a worthwhile community cause.
After the ten-day challenge from March 1-10, the winner of the Go Out and Play Challenge will be revealed on March 15.聽 A runner-up community will receive a second-place prize of $5,000.
If you鈥檙e interested in doing your part to help Outlook rack up the minutes and win some cash, you鈥檙e encouraged to create your personal and family profiles now to start logging your physical activity minutes.
Register your profiles and take part in the challenge by going to the following web address: challenge.saskatchewaninmotion.ca/register
Get out and get active, Outlook!
