How mowing your lawn could help Whitecourt win big on the provincial or national stage

Until the end of June, Whitecourt residents can get involved in a massive competition against fellow Canadians. Through the ParticipAction Community Better Challenge, people document their active minutes throughout the month to see which community in Canada is the most active. Getting to the top of the leaderboard comes with perks, including top prizes both nationally and provincially.

Emma Harper, the Recreation Coordinator for the Town of Whitecourt, said that the program is a win-win all around because it gets people and families out living an active lifestyle. Within the first days of June, Whitecourt sat third highest in Alberta, just behind Edmonton and Calgary. “I don’t think we’ve gotten that close in the past,” said Harper, about how well the community was doing in the standings.

She said that things being less busy elsewhere, with cancelled or postponed extracurricular activities, might be getting more people involved in the challenge. “It’s never been like this, and I think it’s because people have something positive to focus on. People have latched onto this because it’s something that we can still do and bring that sense of community back. We have not been able to get much of that sense lately because everybody had to stay away from each other.”

Harper said that she saw posts on social media and saw many people sharing them, urging friends to join. “I thought it was so amazing. It has taken on a life of its own. It’s a grassroots community event and challenge, so it’s just amazing that people are getting into it and getting their friends and family signed up and promoting it. I mean, that is how we potentially could win this thing.”

So, how does it work? “There are different ways to do this. I think the easiest is if you have a smartphone. You download the app, ParticipAction (orange and purple symbol), register yourself and start logging your minutes.” She said that when you register, the app asks for your postal code. Entering it guarantees that every minute you log in goes under the Whitecourt Community Team. “From there, you can create smaller teams which enter you into more prize options through ParticipAction.” Then, easily log minutes by tapping the circle with a shoe and a plus sign.

Harper said that organizations and businesses could sign up too. Even the Town of Whitecourt, as an organization, is tracking all the fitness minutes through the programs they run that are active. “If people don’t have a smartphone or they don’t want to put apps on their phone, they can register on the website and track minutes for yourself or your family that way,” explained Harper. For younger children, parents that are signed up can log their children’s minutes on their account. If a family of five went out for an hour-long walk or bike ride together, they could put that hour in five times to account for each active member of the family.

As for activities, the possibilities are endless. “Housework and yard work counts too—also, gardening or a walk around the block. A lot of us have to mow the grass right now, and that counts. You might not consider yourself a highly active person but guaranteed you’re going to be doing some physical activity, and every minute we can add as a community counts towards our total. Even if you do five minutes, that’s five more minutes we would not have had otherwise. So, each minute counts,” said Harper.

Two years ago, when the last event like this took place, there were top prizes for the country’s top community and the top community in each province. This year, it’s the same. “The top prize is $100,000 for the national winner, and I’m not sure what the plan is this time around for each province. Previously it was $25,000 provincially.”

Harper explained that the top winners might not even be the ones with the most minutes, though it certainly helps to have good numbers. “It’s not just based on minutes. The top 50 communities in the country will have to submit something explaining why they should win. From those, they will pick a winner.” She said if it comes to that, they will reach out to the community for help. “It’s one step at a time right now. If we get to that point, then that’s when we start to decide as a community what we want to say and what we would want to spend the money on if we were to win.”

Harper said she hopes to see the momentum keep up. “I hope we can keep that motivation going so that we can stay within the top ten of Alberta. Seeing our community’s name on that list will keep people pushing so that we can try and get first.” The competition continues until June 30, and residents can sign up at any time during the month to add their minutes. You can even go back through the month and add your minutes in.

Harper said that beyond the competition, the challenge is to become an active community and increase the connectivity between people. “There’s probably a greater sense of belonging in an active community because you are out and about and doing things with your family and friends. You are also potentially part of community groups that build on that sense of belonging too. Getting active and doing things means you are seeing your neighbours and meeting more people. I think it also creates pride in our community, not only if we were to win, but also just on an individual level because you are doing this as a community and feeling connected to everyone.” On June 10, Whitecourt was sixth out of 220 Albertan communities.