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28 - The Oakville Beaver, Friday July 11, 2008 www.oakvillebeaver.com Dr. Nosal walks away as champion in pedometer challenge By Hiba Kesebi SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER It took Dr. Bob Nosal 93, 890 steps -- just short of 75 km -- to become the winner of Oakville's week-long pedometer challenge. Nosal, who competed with four-other community members, to increase awareness about the town's new Make Your Move program and the library's lending program, Count Your Steps...To Better Health, admits that luck may have been by his side this week. The medical officer of health for the Halton Region Health Department said that he happened to play an extra round of golf this week, adding that he had been scheduled for the game long before the challenge. The extra round of golf, or what Nosal called luck, may have contributed to his victory, but it wasn't the only reason he had a 22, 665-step lead over second place finisher Brett Herrington, chair of the Oakville Public Library Board. "I normally do 10,000 steps a day," explained Nosal. "All year long, I try to jog, hike, bike or play golf, for 45 minutes to one hour a day." "Work only gives you around 4, 000 steps, so it's important to get your exercise after," he added. Herrington and Rod Jerred, managing editor of the Oakville Beaver, agree. Herrington said he got most of his steps by playing ultimate frisbee, soccer, and taking a long walk with this family during the RON KUZYK / OAKVILLE BEAVER WALK THIS WAY: Competitors in the Step by Step challenge hand in their pedometer counts and a winner is declared. The competitors, left to right, are Nina de Vaal , Town of Oakville, Rod Jerred, editor of The Oakville Beaver, Brett Herrington, chair of the Oakville Public Library Board, and Dr. Bob Nosal who came in first. Missing is Mayor Rob Burton. weekend. "We enjoyed the walk, it brought the family together," he smiled. Aside from keeping their pedometers for their commitment to the challenge, Jerred, Nosal, Herrington and Nina de Vaal, Director of Recreation and Culture for the Town of Oakville, all shared the same mentality when the competition came to an end, Wednesday. "I realized that I'm more active during the week than the weekends, so that's something I will be working on," said de Vaal, who tried to park further away from buildings to fit in the most steps possible during work. "The pedometer was a good tool for encouraging me to become more active. I started taking longer and more frequent walks with my dogs," said Jerred, adding that the competition pushed him to start doing a 2 km morning jog again. According to Yvonne Everard, health promoter for Community Health Services in the Halton Region Health Department, encouraging people to get into an active mentality is exactly what the lending program aims to do. Canada's Physical Activity Guide to Healthy Active Living recommends at least 30 to 60 minutes of moderate activity most days of the week." Moderate activity includes brisk walking, biking, raking leaves, swimming and dancing. The library has already loaned its 100 pedometres, and 52 are put on hold. Similar to borrowing a book, DVD or other library resource, the pedometers will be loaned out for a three-week period. Included with the pedometer is a tracking sheet to record the number of steps taken daily. People should aim to increase the number of daily steps they take by 500 each week. The five community members ended their challenge Wednesday, but their commitment to staying active is far from ending. Everard and the Halton Region encourage you to get active, and start walking. www.oakvillebeaver.com