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Burnaby falls short to New Westminster in walking challenge

The Royal City has claimed bragging rights in the Walk 30 challenge, but Burnaby has plenty of reason to be proud.

The Royal City has claimed bragging rights in the Walk 30 challenge, but Burnaby has plenty of reason to be proud.

Launched last month, the Walk30 Burnaby/New West Challenge encouraged students and community members to walk 30 minutes a day, as a way of inspiring people to walk at least 30 minutes a day to improve their health and helping rethink how people get around in the community. More than 3,200 people tracked nearly 700,000 minutes of walking over the five-week challenge, for an average of 27 minutes a day.

From April 9 to May 11, participants tracked the amount their daily walking minutes online. Participants attended a Walking Festival on Saturday at Edmonds Community Centre, where they enjoyed a variety of activities – and learned who won the Walk30 challenge.

According to organizers, the competition was measured by registration and total minutes walked. In Burnaby about 2,388 people – or one per cent of its population – walked 324,402 minutes, or 47 per cent of the total minutes walked. In New Westminster, approximately 874 people – or 1.2 per cent of the Royal City’s population – walked 362,198 minutes. New West, with 52 per cent of the total participants, won the Walk30 Challenge Cup.

On the school front, schools were measured by the number of classes taking part and the level of engagement. Lord Kelvin Elementary was the big winner in New West, with Armstrong and Suncrest elementary schools being tops in Burnaby. Each school will receive $250 to spend on physical literacy resources.

“We were really pleased with the way it turned out with the participation of both Burnaby and New Westminster residents and in particular the schools that took part in the challenge as well,” said Margie Manifold, senior social planner with the City of Burnaby

Several hundred people attended the wrap-up event on May6 12, where they learned about walking opportunities, safety and wellbeing, enjoyed music from a New Westminster Senior Secondary jazz combo, shared walking playlist ideas with the Leo Club from Burnaby School District, and explored games and activities organized by Burnaby Parks, Culture and Recreation.