The results may still be unofficial, but Hay River is the most active community in the NWT, according to the ParticipACTION Community Challenge.
The competition ran from June 1 to June 30 and saw communities across the country do what they could to be as active as possible. Every minute of activity, either personal or by organization, could be tracked on either the ParticipACTION app or website and every province and territory had its own separate competition. When everything was totalled up after June 30, Hay River had logged the most amount of time in the NWT, while Yellowknife finished second.
Courtney Fraser, the town’s recreation programmer, said the recreation department provided plenty of options for people to take part at the community centre and they were all free of charge during the month of June.
“Lane swims on Wednesdays and open swim on Fridays were offered (and) we also introduced a free Aquafit class for the month of June,” she said.
The town also joined up with the Hay River Golf Club to offer seniors golf for free every Thursday in the month of June, she added, with funding from the New Horizons for Seniors program grant, which is operated by the federal government.
“(That) program will continue through the summer,” she said.
There was also a chance for the business community to get involved through the Corporate Activity Challenge, something Fraser said was a way for businesses to get their employees involved.
And just to provide some motivation, there were some prizes involved, she added.
“The grand prize was a free one-year door wrap advertisement at the Hay River Community Centre and a $50 gift card to a local business for each employee who participated,” she said.
Wesclean Northern Sales was the winner of the challenge.
Some other activities that were tracked included fitness classes at the Hay River Community Centre, Hay River Slo Pitch league games and overall activity at the Hay River Golf Club.
The most active community in each province and territory stands to win a cash prize of some kind — the winner of the NWT will earn $15,000 in grant funding from ParticipACTION that can be used to go toward such items as new capital builds (playgrounds, trails etc.), buying equipment and supplies for physical activity programs or to develop physical activity development.
Fraser said the town hasn’t been officially named the winner, but if, and when, the town does get the $15,000, it will most likely be used for additional recreation programming and equipment.
“We don’t have specific plans for the prize money as of yet,” she said.
Because the town ended up finishing as one of the top two communities in the NWT, it now advances to compete for the chance to be named Canada’s Most Active Community. Hay River is one of 50 communities which are now in the running for the title and if the town is selected as the winner, it means an additional grand prize of $100,000.
Fraser’s job now is to submit a package to the judging committee containing such information as to what the community did, how it engaged groups and individuals and how it will use the prize money if it’s chosen.
The winner will be announced on July 24 and Fraser said she’s been busy getting the entry package together.
“The report for the finalist submission is due on July 12 – I haven’t submitted it yet but have been hard at work on it,” she said.