GRANT High School staff and students are staying active in a battle for bragging rights, with a challenge keeping motivation levels high in a time where many are without their usual sporting or fitness pastimes.
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic the school’s health and physical education coordinator Craig Donaldson introduced the “GHS ISO challenge” to encourage students to stay active while much of society was confined to isolation.
Utilising the Strava app, competitors can log their activity levels, whether it be running, jogging or walking, with totals contributing towards a set challenge.
From there it did not take long for the staff v student competitiveness to kick in and 75 members have joined the challenge so far.
“The benefits of physical activity on a person’s health and well-being are well documented and the arrival of the COVID pandemic and isolation meant additional stress was placed on students,” Donaldson said.
The first challenge set was a 100km goal, which had the staff hit the target first.
Donaldson said following the initial success, further interest from the student body sparked the introduction of a GHS ISO bike challenge.
A total of 24 participants signed up for the cycling edition, which operates alongside the running tasks with competition between staff and students.
Adding further intrigue to the cycling challenge, long-time cyclist and Grant High teacher Mike Bakker has formed a one-man team and has certainly been holding his own.
After the 100km challenge, the heat was turned up with the 2020 Tour Down Under course the next objective, which equalled a total of 870.2km.
“That had a good mix of stage wins in the bike challenge and a win for staff in the run challenge,” Donaldson said.
Now that restrictions have eased and school attendance is back up around 90pc, the challenge has been renamed the GHS ISO “find the time” challenge, kept alive by its popularity.
The current challenge has competitors completing the 2020 Tour de France course.
“It is not only who can complete the total distance, but additional mini challenges such as most elevation metres and fastest stage completion,” Donaldson said.
“So far stage one and two has the staff and Mike Bakker taking the honours (respectively).”
This program is a perfect example of how the creativity required to overcome coronavirus limitations has remained valid as restrictions are eased.
