Participants in APHA’s Billion Steps Challenge once again strode far past the goal.
The annual challenge, which culminates during National Public Health Week, drew 5,000 people representing more than 400 teams. Together, participants took a total of 1,560,187,129 steps — exceeding the goal by more than 50%.
“We are thrilled with our results,” said Lindsey Wahowiak, APHA’s director of Affiliate Affairs, which spearheads National Public Health Week activities. “Our fun, friendly challenge got lots of people moving and hopefully reinforced healthy habits along the way.”
The challenge kicked off in January with a goal of helping promote good health and physical activity in communities across the county. APHA provided tips and resources for organizing a walking challenge along with free access to a fitness-tracking platform to monitor progress and engage participants. People could walk individually or come together as teams to compete.
On average, individuals logged 7,756 steps each day. The teams with the highest daily steps average were CrisfieldWalks, Falisha Got This 2019 and Wonderful Walkers.
“We thank everyone for participating,” said Wahowiak. “And we encourage everyone to stay active and join us for next year’s challenge.”
