Opinions differ on how many steps a day are considered healthy. However, everyone agrees on one thing: exercise—especially as a counterbalance to the daily office routine—is good for both physical and mental health.

With this in mind, as part of the annual Health and Environment Days, teams from the Zittau city administration, the University Executive Board of the Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences, the mayors of Zittau and Görlitz, and students from the Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences set out to count their steps for a week in a friendly competition. Combined, the teams logged over 5 million steps.

Who's leaving everyone in the dust?

The staff of the Zittau city administration successfully defended their 2020 victory, winning the staff competition and taking home the hotly contested trophy—shaped like a foot—to City Hall. The University Executive Board-Mayor competition, introduced last year—in which Rector Prof. Dr. Alexander Kratzsch, Chancellor Karin Hollstein, Mayor Octavian Ursu, and Mayor Thomas Zenker competed with their teams (Jenny König, Sebastian Riedel, Juliane Zachmann, and Anke Zenker-Hoffmann), was won this year by the HSZG University Executive Board. First place in the student category went to Eileen Stübke and Clara Nickel from the Faculty of Social Sciences.

"We really enjoyed all the exercise, the fresh air and the intensive contact," says one participant from the HSZG. "Above all, we have made plans for more active lunch breaks in the future," she sums up. The fire department team, which competed on behalf of the Zittau city council, was equally enthusiastic about the event.

We’d like to say thank you!

“With great pleasure,” say Ines Hirt and Ulrike Bobek, the organizers of this year’s Health and Environment Days and the 2021 Pedometer Challenge. We’d like to thank all participants for the many wonderful comments, our Environmental Management intern, Eric Weiß, for his active support, and to the sponsors of the prizes we were able to raffle off at the awards ceremony: Frottana Textil GmbH & Co KG in Großschönau, BIOase in Zittau, Bio im Bahnhof in Görlitz, and Kaffee-Kalle in Zittau.

A heartfelt thank you to everyone for participating, for the wonderful camaraderie, and for helping us organize the 2021 Pedometer Challenge together!

The total figures for the individual categories were as follows:

• Steps for City of Zittau Staff: 1,457,738
• Steps taken by university staff: 1,344,358 (+227,462 outside the staff category)
• Steps taken by students: 1,861,032
• Steps by the mayor’s team: 407,636
• Steps by the University Executive Board team: 591,215