Carolina was well represented in the Miles for Wellness Challenge 23: Traversing the Southern Capitals of the United States, which took place from March 15 to May 9. Carolina’s 36 teams numbered more than all other participating state universities combined and contributed 168,881,899 steps (84,441 miles) to the overall challenge—that’s nearly 3.5 times around the earth for UNC teams!
During this eight-week virtual team-based walking challenge, teams of 10 competed against 287 other teams across the state to travel a virtual trail leading to 16 state capitols from Raleigh, North Carolina, to Phoenix, Arizona.
Sponsored by the Total Rewards Division of the Office of State Human Resources, this challenge encourages teams of state employees to achieve a daily goal of 10,000 steps, or the equivalent of five miles. Challenges take place twice a year, with participating teams divided into four categories (tortoise, hare, super hare or bionic hare) according to the weekly step averages.
Special congratulations to team ACE Fitness for walking the most steps (8,492,104) of all UNC teams. Thank you to all who participated and continued to make physical activity a priority throughout the spring semester.
The next Miles for Wellness Challenge will begin August 30, 2021. Registration information will be available later this summer. Click here to learn more about Miles for Wellness.
Miles for Wellness Challenge 23 Results: UNC-Chapel Hill Teams
| Bionic Hare Division | ||
| Team Name | Team Captain | Team Total Steps |
| ACE Fitness | Beth Thompson | 8,492,104 |
| RadBioFish | Ashley Hester | 6,747,690 |
| Super Hare Division | ||
| Team Name | Team Captain | Team Total Steps |
| BCAS Road Warriors 1 | Jennie Vaughn | 7,888,017 |
| Twister Blister | Janet Steele | 7,787,233 |
| Going the (Social) Distance | Tiffany Williams | 6,856,656 |
| Not Fast Just Furious | Jonathan Fish | 6,444,756 |
| The Tranquilizers | Malgorzata Karpala | 6,215,318 |
| Safe at Any Speed | Kristel Robison | 5,974,631 |
| We Are Pharmily – Team One | Angela Lyght | 5,751,853 |
| Read it and Weep | Nicole Basile | 5,043,829 |
| Hare Division | ||
| Team Name | Team Captain | Team Total Steps |
| BCAS Road Warriors 1 | Jennie Vaughn | 7,888,017 |
| Twister Blister | Janet Steele | 7,787,233 |
| AAP Walk and Rollers | Lora Wical | 5,010,555 |
| BCAS Road Warriors 2 | Jennie Vaughn | 4,800,575 |
| Oh Great…Exercise | Susan Chen | 4,753,636 |
| The Animals | Tracy Heenan | 4,741,046 |
| Allied Health Steppers 2 | Eileen Burker | 4,639,750 |
| UNC Energizers | Jamie Smedsmo | 4,624,483 |
| Steps for SILS | Lori Haight | 4,609,836 |
| Allied Health Steppers 1 | Dani Shirey | 4,543,696 |
| Southern Striders | Celeste Cantrell | 4,529,966 |
| Grad School Steppers | Abby Mitcham | 4,421,207 |
| UNC Global Ed Center #2 | Melissa McMurray | 3,747,851 |
| TraCS Trekkers | Victoria Samayoa | 3,739,383 |
| Electromechanical Tortoises | Alice Pollard | 2,774,638 |
| BCAS Road Warriors 3 | Jennie Vaughn | 2,707,587 |
| Missteps | Alison Kieber | 2,143,784 |
| Tortoise Division | ||
| Team Name | Team Captain | Team Total Steps |
| UNC OHR Walking Frenzies | Jessica Pyjas | 3,929,738 |
| Red Hot Chili Steppers Pender | Wendy Pender | 3,524,431 |
| Sweat Equity | Tracy Wetherby Williams | 3,523,332 |
| TraCS Trailblazers | Victoria Samayoa | 3,022,237 |
| We Are Pharmily – Team Two | Angela Lyght | 2,925,959 |
| Pandemic Pacers | Jameceia Holliday | 2,527,878 |
| The Bibliophiles | Nicole Basile | 1,955,026 |
| CEDAS Walks | Lindsay Cortright | 1,859,592 |
| UNC Chillies | Stacy Keast | 948,376 |