Today’s post comes from Khushmol Dhaliwal. Khushmol’s MSc thesis focused on exploring risk factors contributing to obesity and unhealthy weight gain among children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. She is currently serving as the Vice-Chair for the 2020-21 OC-SNP National Executive. 

The OC-SNP National Pedometer/Odometer Challenge is an annual week-long event that promotes physical activity and networking, and a little bit of friendly competition between local OC-SNP and OC chapters across Canada.

This year marked the 9th anniversary of the challenge and was hosted by the OC-SNP National Executive and the University of Alberta OC-SNP chapter. From March 7th to March 13th, 2021, dozens of individuals competed on campuses across the country to get the most collective steps. We had participants from the University of Calgary, University of Alberta, Ryerson University, University of Toronto, and Laval University!

It can be challenging to stay active during our Canadian winters, along with the added uncertainties that this past year has brought us. We are really impressed with the number of participants that got involved this year! Physical activity can take many forms and has many short and long term benefits from: building muscle strength, protecting against chronic diseases, and improving mental health and wellbeing! 

In total, the OC-SNP National Pedometer Challenge 2021 accumulated 2,470,027 steps! We had 54 participants in total across the various chapters participate. 

Many thanks to all of our participants and a huge congratulations to this year’s winning team and individual:

Team:                                            Individual:

1st place: Laval University         1st place: Chelsea Christie from the University of Calgary