At walking speed between Zittau and Görlitz

21,047,474 steps were collected by the almost 60 participants in the pedometer challenge 2022   A remarkable achievement. The question was how many times we could all cover the distance between Zittau and Görlitz in one month. Philipp Knebel and Ulrike Bobek pulled out their calculators and came up with 391 times Zittau-Görlitz on foot and the bike challenge was still running, so the distance was added 96 times.

Proud result: 487 distances were covered. The nice side effect: a little more attention was paid to exercise in everyday office life than usual.

The pedometer challenge has traditionally taken place as part of the Health and Environment Days (GUt) since 2016. It was initiated to bring a little more movement into everyday office life with a playful challenge between the Zittau city administration and the Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences. In 2020, the city of Görlitz joined the challenge via the special Rectorate vs. Lord Mayor competition and a cycling challenge was added. The step challenge lasted 5 days at the beginning. However, some of them walked so much during this week that one or two calves cramped. "That's not healthy either," says Philipp Knebel from university sports. "If you increase from 6,000 to 30,000 steps a day from one day to the next, it's neither good for your feet nor for your back and cardiovascular system."  In order to allow time to slowly increase, the challenge has been extended to a whole month this year. From June 1 to June 30, people were busy walking and cycling.

An app kindly provided by BARMER was used to count the steps taken by each participant and there was the usual team battle: Zittau City Council vs Görlitz City Council vs Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences. The city administration of Zittau won the battle and once again got hold of the popular foot, which has been passed on as a challenge cup since 2016.

The bicycle challenge also went to a member of the Zittau city administration - Winfried Bruns came out on top with 1,072.5 kilometers cycled and received the challenge cup. The only student participant came in 4th place and was delighted to receive a prize. The prizes were again raffled off among all participants. "So everyone has a chance of winning a prize," says Ulrike Bobek and believes that the motto 'taking part is everything' is what counts.

The Health and Environment Days will take place again next year and the challenges will also be back. Whether they will last a week or a month  ? "We don't know yet. A poll at the award ceremony revealed a tie between the two options. It's not easy to find a solution that suits everyone involved," says Ulrike. The most important thing is to have fun.