The Amazing Race #2: The winners are crowned
The first team has crossed the finishing line. Meet the winners of the Amazing Race, System Verification’s step count competition.
A short recap of the Amazing Race setup: System Verification’s employees were split up into teams with people from different offices mixed into every team. They were then tasked to walk between Athens and Stockholm. Or, rather, to complete the number of steps that correspond to the distance between the Greek and Swedish capitals.
And after about 46 days and 4,195 kilometres of relentless walking, we now have a winner. Team Forrest Gump crossed the (virtual) finishing line on 16 April. The team’s final tally is 5,992,904 steps, which is equal to about 12,000 steps per day and team member.
The team’s top walker is Johan Pearson. His boots certainly seems to be made for walking – he has single-handedly completed more than one million steps.
“Initially, my ambition was simply not to finish last,” says Johan. “But I also wanted to get out and get active, as that hasn’t happened much over the last year due to Covid. The competition really changed my habits, and I’ve become much more active. So there are some really positive effects – what I’ve noticed most is that I sleep better and I feel more energised.”
Their steps were counted through Wellstep – an app that has also served as a communication platform for the team. They’ve used the app to keep in touch, encourage each other and build team spirit. Johan exemplifies:
“As the team got closer to Malmö, I took a long walk through the city and photographed things along the way. Then I shared those pics with the team to make it feel like we were out walking together,” says Johan.
Team captain Ulf Karlsson is a little bit behind Johan, but his average is still an impressive 13,625 steps per day.
“Yep, Johan has been a team motivator all throughout. And overall, the competition has been a great experience. I hope there will be more challenges like this in the future,” says Ulf.
Johan Pearson and Ulf Karlsson out walking for Amazing Race
“I finished third on the individual ranking. The two people ahead of me, Selma Toskic and Monica Boman, have in turn been a great motivation for me to get out even when the weather’s been bad. They’ve been an incredible inspiration!” adds Johan.
The walking champions get 2,000 Euro to donate to a charity of their choice. However, team Forrest Gump has still to make their choice.
“No, we haven’t had time to discuss which charity to choose yet. But it will be a joint decision from a team that has worked so well together all the way through Europe!” says Ulf.
On the 29th of April, the competition will be completely over. Then we will crown our individual winner as well.
To be continued!
