In the run up to this summer’s Olympic Games West Sussex residents are being urged to take on their own ‘Reaching Rio’ challenge.
The workplace physical activity challenge returns for a fourth year on Monday May 16 and will see teams of five people sign up and cover the distance from London to Brazil’s Rio de Janiero in time for the opening ceremony on August 5.
The initiative was set up following the Olympic Games in London four years ago, in order to build on the 2012 legacy and encourage more people to get active for the sake of their health and wellbeing.
Christine Field, chairman of the West Sussex Health and Wellbeing Board, said: “We’re encouraging everyone to join us in the last year of Reaching Rio, to try new sports, get active and have fun doing it.
“As long as you have a team of five in your workplace and each of you commit to being more active for the challenge, you’ll soon see the benefits.
“You definitely don’t need to be an Olympic athlete to take part, either!”
Following last year’s challenge more than half of participants said they were more physically active as a result.
According to the county council a quarter of adults in West Sussex are not achieving 30 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity a day.
Reaching Rio runs for 12 weeks with teams entering beginner, intermediate or advanced leagues. Spot prizes are on offer for participants as well as the overall winners.
In 2015 more than 420 people took part in West Sussex. The average person burnt 15,000 calories, the equivalent of 94 glasses of wine, 83 pints of beer or 62 chocolate bars, while 2,868,287 miles were covered by participants.
For more information and to register a team visit http://reachingrio.org
Don’t miss out on all the latest breaking news where you live.
Here are four ways you can be sure you’ll be amongst the first to know what’s going on.
1) Make our website your homepage
2) Like our Facebook page
3) Follow us on Twitter
4) Register with us by clicking on ‘sign in’ (top right corner). You can then receive our daily newsletter AND add your point of view to stories that you read here.
And do share with your family and friends - so they don’t miss out!
Always the first with your local news.
Be part of it.