Red Deer is currently the community to beat in Alberta, and is fourth in the nation among communities competing in the June ParticipACTION Community Challenge.
Red Deer was in first place in Alberta as of Monday evening, and remained in the top spot on Wednesday ahead of Calgary, Edmonton, Lloydminster and Vulcan.
Nationally, Salisbury, N.B., is currently in first place, followed by North Grenville, Ont., and Toronto. Tignish, P.E.I., rounds out the top five.
Throughout the challenge, communities are ranked according to total minutes of activity logged, but the national and provincial winners will be based on activity minutes logged per capita so even smaller communities have a chance to win.
Denise Fredeen, Move Your Mood co-ordinator for Alberta Health Services and Red Deer’s ParticipACTION spokesperson, said it’s exciting to take the lead in Alberta. Despite winning the national challenge, Red Deer was unable to surpass the number of minutes logged by Calgary last year.
“Red Deer is doing a great job getting the word out there, encouraging participation, otherwise we wouldn’t be on that leaderboard,” Fredeen said.
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Last June Red Deer beat out 1,700 communities to be named Canada’s Most Active Community — the first Alberta community to win — and took home the $100,000 prize.
As the month-long challenge reaches the halfway mark, Fredeen encouraged people who are already logging their activity minutes to reach out to one person to tell them about Red Deer’s ParticipACTION challenge.
“So many people think I don’t go to the gym so this isn’t for me. But that’s not the case. If you’re stretching in the morning, cleaning your home, running around after your kids. If you’re moving your feet and getting your heart rate up, you can record that. Every piece of movement helps.”
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To join the challenge individual adults can download the ParticipACTION app by visiting www.participaction.com to record any physical activity, from exercise classes, team sports, house cleaning, dog walking and more.
People can also create a group for their organization and track their activity on the ParticipACTION website. Families can track their kids activities, sports teams and family activities on the website. Individuals can also choose to track their activity on the website.
For more information on Red Deer’s ParticipACTION campaign visit Red Deer Community Better on Facebook.
