October 28, 2010
Pac-10 Fitness Challenge seeing more interest this year
More indoor exercise, the start of fall, all signs point to the fourth annual Pac-10 Fitness Challenge.
The Pac-10 Fitness Challenge began in 2007. The idea originated from a health summit held in that year, attended by directors of the Pac-10 sports and fitness. They wanted to promote fit lifestyles, and this is what came from their discussion.
The challenge is essentially an intercollegiate, recreational event coordinated between the UW and all other Pac-10 universities. This year the event began on Monday October 25th and will end this Saturday. Students, faculty, and staff are encouraged to log their activity on a site that records the activity of all colleges. The most active University wins.
This year registration is up from last year by over 20 participants, but UW success in the competition will be determined by logging hours. Even more important to Carrie Wigton, the fitness director of Recreational Sports and director of the Fitness Challenge at UW, is promoting the importance of exercise on UW’s campus.
“You have a lot going on in your life, but any type of exercise helps balance out the rest of your life,” Wigton explained.
This year the competition added a new event to the challenge, Fit Fest. This served as the kick-off event for the challenge. T-Shirts were handed out to those who came by to pre-register. Wigton said that the 500 T-Shirts were passed out in two short hours. In the past, this process has taken two full days.
Karlyn Kurokawa, a graduate student in accounting has been a participant since the challenge began in 2007. In addition to taking a kickboxing class at the IMA, Kurokawa runs, weight lifts, climbs stairs, and runs on the Burke Gilman trail when the weather is nice.
“Its just a way to keep you accountable, and the fact that it’s against other schools also keeps you accountable,” Kurokawa said.
Kurokawa had logged over two hours by Tuesday of the competition. Look for UW’s success in the competition here.
