In a bid to highlight the dangers of obesity, staff from a major sporting venue in the capital have walked, skipped and run a total of 4,840 miles – the distance between Abu Dhabi and Osaka, Japan.
Clocking up 10.2 million steps, 20 employees of Zayed Sports City (ZSC) entered the du Corporate Step Challenge. This five-week event sees teams of five compete against each other to see how many steps they can achieve in the time allowed.
According to recent research from United Health Group, approximately 73 per cent of adult women and 66 per cent of men are overweight or obese in the UAE, placing the Emirates in the top five countries worldwide for obesity.
“I’ve wanted to lose weight for some time now but a recent knee surgery set me back even further,” said competitor Hassan Mostafa. “I’ve always made excuses when it comes to exercise, but committing to the Challenge was the push I needed to get started. I’m more active now and my energy level is improving.”
ZSC has entered four teams in the Challenge, with one of them – Team ZSC Cheetah – currently placed third overall among 67 teams. Employees have devised a number of ways to make sure they are increasing their step count during their working day, including an hourly lap around the National Stadium and ditching buggies in favour of walking to meetings within the sprawling ZSC complex.
Barry Bremner, General Manager at ZSC, said: “We are really proud of the commitment our employees have shown in the Corporate Step Challenge.
By taking the initiative to participate, we are demonstrating that small changes can improve the health and wellbeing of UAE residents.
“At the same time, we’re really pushing ourselves to win the competition and we’re aiming to reach over 11 million steps by the time the Challenge ends.”
