Live Healthy Iowa 100 Day Wellness Challenge ends; Nearly a million minutes logged locally

Live Healthy Iowa’s 100 Day Wellness Challenge has come to an end as of May 1, and the results indicate a healthier Iowa, including residents of Allamakee County. According to Live Healthy Iowa reports, 1,713 Allamakee County residents participated in the Governor’s 100 Day Wellness Challenge and Healthy Kids Initiative. The 1,713 adult and youth participants represent 12.8% of the county population (age five and above), and that percentage placed Allamakee County third among all counties in the state of Iowa as far as percentage of population participating in this year's Challenge.
In anticipation of the Challenge and Iowa Governor Terry Branstad's plan to make Iowa the healthiest state in the nation within the next five years, Allamakee County formed a countywide wellness coalition to work toward improving the health and vitality of county residents. The newly-formed wellness coalition will continue to use the Governor’s 100 Day Wellness Challenge as an annual event to help change the landscape of wellness for Allamakee County.
“It was awesome to see such great participation in Allamakee County," commented Dani Bucknell, co-leader of the Get Active Allamakee Wellness Coalition, along with Stefanie Perkins. "We set 10% of the population as our initial goal and we exceeded that. Thank you to everyone who participated!  We hope to see you join the challenge next year!”
Statewide, Live Healthy Iowa adult and youth participant numbers broke their all-time participation record. The adult 100 Day Wellness Challenge had a total of 33,700 participants. The youth Governor’s Challenge nearly tripled its numbers from 2011 with 30,774 participants. At last report, registered participants had logged more than 76 million minutes of physical activity and lost nearly 105,000 pounds. On the local level, totals reported to The Standard each week by the 42 teams in the adult 100 Day Challenge listed in the chart at left indicate that approximately 952,248 minutes of activity were logged by participants in Allamakee County.
In addition to improved health, further rewards were received by Allamakee County participants. One of the more recent award announcements came last week, as the fifth grade class under the instruction of Joe O'Neill at East Elementary School in Waukon was selected to receive a $500 award from the Healthy Iowa Kids Initiative for its participation in the program. A representative from the Healthy Iowa Kids Initiative will present the $500 check at the East Elementary assembly May 22. The award money will be used for Physical Education and other fitness supplies.