Allamakee County repeats as Live Healthy Iowa Community Cup Challenge Champion

Live Healthy Iowa announced its 2013 Cup Challenge winners at a press conference held Wednesday, April 24 in the State Capitol Rotunda in Des Moines, and for the second consecutive year, Allamakee County was crowned the winner of the Community Cup Challenge.
Iowa Governor Terry Branstad, Lt. Governor Kim Reynolds and Cup Challenge co-chairs Steve Lacy and Bill Leaver presented Cup Challenge traveling trophies to representatives from this year's winners. Ann Hart, Principal at East and West Elementary Schools in Waukon, represented the Get Active Allamakee Wellness Coalition in accepting the Community Cup Challenge trophy at Wednesday's presentation in Des Moines.
With 38 communities competing in this year's Community Cup Challenge, a point system based on participation percentage of eligible population and percentage of completion for the entire 10-Week Challenge racked up a championship total of 75 points for Allamakee County, leaving second-place Grundy County behind by seven points and pushing Allamakee County to the top of the competition for the second consecutive year.
Considering a total population of eligible participants five years of age or older, Allamakee County ranked first in percentage of population participating this year with 20.74% of its eligible population total of 13,384 people. Next closest in that statistical category was Washington County with 18.25% of its eligible population taking part in the Challenge.
Allamakee County dipped to a second-place ranking in percentage of participants completing the entire 10-Week Challenge, as 69.46% of this year's 2,776 participants reported activity minutes and/or weight loss results for the entire 10 weeks of the Challenge. Only the City of Hiawatha ranked higher in that completion percentage, with 86.95% of its just 28 participants completing the entire 10-Week Challenge.
“We're so happy to see widespread participation in our county, it’s outstanding!” commented Dani Bucknell, Director of the Waukon Wellness Center who co-leads the Get Active Allamakee Wellness Coalition with Stefanie Perkins of Waukon. “Many thanks to those who participated. Stay active and get ready for 2014!”

FUELING THE FIRE
Within the overall Allamakee County effort, there were three local organizations that were also competing within Live Healthy Iowa's Corporate Cup Challenge of the 10-week competition. Within the Corporate Cup division of companies with 50-250 employees, Veterans Memorial Hospital of Waukon ranked eighth out of 129 participating businesses, with the Allamakee Community School District finishing 34th in that division and Good Samaritan Society-Waukon placing 86th.
After Live Healthy Iowa added the Corporate and Community Cup Challenges last year in an effort to broaden exposure to wellness, this year the Challenge was expanded to include Iowa’s schools, encouraging students and staff to take steps to better health. Within this year's newly-formed K-12 School Cup Challenge, the Allamakee Community School District ranked fifth out of 21 participating schools, finishing just two points behind the School Cup Challenge winner, Mid-Prairie Community School District.
The full list of results for the 2013 Cup Challenges and more information about Live Healthy Iowa can be found at www.livehealthyiowa.org.
Live Healthy Iowa, formerly Lighten Up Iowa, was created in 2001 by the Iowa Sports Foundation as a strategic health initiative to address the state’s growing obesity problem. The Challenge competitions were begun as a means to help reach Iowa Governor Terry Branstad’s goal of making Iowa the healthiest state in the nation within the next five years.