Sarnia fifth provincially in physical activity challenge as new challenge launches

Sarnia placed fifth in Ontario and logged 3.9 million minutes of physical activity in the community’s inaugural year competing in a national challenge.

“We did excellent,” said Rebecca Warren, community services coordinator with the city about Sarnia’s ParticipAction community challenge results in 2022.

More than 500 individuals and eight organizations contributed to Sarnia’s tally, she said.

Red Deer, Alta earned the rank of Canada’s most active community and the $100,000 prize toward local physical activity initiatives.

“We’re definitely aiming for that No. 1 spot in Canada this year, but it was an excellent start,” Warren said.

The challenge registers people by postal code and lets them track their physical activity via the ParticipAction app June 1-30 in the national challenge.

The winning community is determined by total minutes, how many people and organizations take part, as well as community population, organizers said at participation.com.

Finalist communities from each province and territory also get up to $15,000 in prize money for local physical activity and sport initiatives.

To get people involved this year, summer students will be on hand 9 am to 3 pm at the city’s Strangway Center recreation center Thursday, helping people download and set up the app, Warren said.

“And then, just spreading the word, encouraging participation,” she said, noting activities could be things like gardening, pickleball, or making use of city parks and trails.

“It’s just a great opportunity to get active in our community,” she said.

The Strangway Center recreation center for adults 20 and older that has more than 500 members and sees maybe 250 users a day played a significant role in last year’s results, Warren said.

“We track the minutes from the activities that occur at the center and we definitely have a lot going on here,” she said.

Free fitness classes are being offered June 1 between 10 am and 12:30 pm, she said. People can register at sarnia.perfectmind.com or by calling the center at 519-332-0656.

On top of that, a free Strangway Center class is being offered every Tuesday to people who register, she said.

June 6 is tai chi at 11:30 am, June 13 is funfit at 11:15 am, June 20 is flow yoga at 2 pm, and June 27 is aging backward at 11:30 am

Last year, there were free programs, too, but for just one day, Warren said.

“We decided to try this model this year because it allows people to participate in more,” she said about what the city is calling its Try it Tuesday series.

Nationally, 600,000 participants tracked more than 500 million physical activity minutes in last year’s challenge, according to ParticipAction.

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