Move for a good cause: Month-long endurance challenge returns

Running, walking, cycling, or rollerblading – every movement counts. UTS is once again inviting UWB students and staff to help those in need through physical activity. All it takes is joining the challenge. The kilometres covered will be converted into funds to support the young, disabled Tereza.

The dramatic story of Tereza Nová from Stod, a graduate of a sports grammar school in Pilsen, shook the sporting world last year and resonated widely in the media. The Czech alpine skier and participant in the Winter Olympic Games in Beijing suffered a serious head injury after a crash during training in Germany. She was rushed to the hospital with bleeding in the brain. Tereza spent a month in an induced coma and gradually underwent several surgeries. Now, with a cranial implant, she is slowly undergoing rehabilitation. Anyone who joins the university's Month-long runner endurance challenge between 30 March and 26 April can help Tereza. Participants will also do something for their own health while contributing to the prestige of their faculty or another unit of the University of West Bohemia.

Students and university employees can register on the challenge website. Participants will compete in teams representing their faculty or another university unit. The Month-long runner challenge has two categories: one for runners and walkers, and the other for cyclists, scooter riders and inline skaters. Those who walk and ride can compete in both categories simultaneously. Throughout April, all participants must record their physical activities using any mobile tracking app and continuously upload screenshots showing the kilometres they have covered to the challenge portal. A dedicated mobile application, available for both Android and iOS, will be used for this purpose. Under each screenshot, participants must also enter the number of kilometres they have just walked, run or ridden. Please note that the app's automatic daily total of kilometres does not count. Participants must always intentionally record a specific activity.

It is best to submit a summary of activities at the end of each day or at the latest by the end of the given week. Interim results are evaluated separately every week, and data from different weeks cannot be combined. Participants can follow their team's performance on the Month-long runner challenge website or on social media. The overall winner of the challenge will be the team that earns the most points over the four weeks across both categories combined. Thanks to the support of the UWB faculties and other units, the kilometres covered will ultimately be converted into financial support for the young skier.

Extra performances mean extra points. Individuals can earn them for their faculty or university unit in the third and fourth weeks of the competition. In the third week, additional points will go to the participant who records the highest number of kilometres in a single day within a given discipline. Extra points will also be awarded to the individual with the highest total number of kilometres in that discipline over the entire week. In the fourth week, bonus points will be awarded to the participant who achieves the greatest elevation gain in a single activity within a given discipline. For walking, this means more than 1,000 metres of elevation gain, and for cycling, more than 1,500 metres.

Details, competition rules, and the results of the previous challenge are available on the Month-long runner endurance challenge.