University Times

Winners of the second MyHealth Weight Race were announced April 30 and teams’ final standings for the five Pitt campuses and the Mechanicsburg satellite are posted online at www.hr.pitt.edu/fitness/weightrace.htm. The race was sponsored by Pitt’s Fitness for Life program and UPMC Health Plan.

According to race organizers, 739 participants signed up either as individuals or as members of weight race teams for the 12-week competition that began in January. Seventy-four teams of three-five participants competed across the University’s six sites; 86 weight racers competed as individuals. (Individual names are not reported for privacy reasons, Pitt officials said.)

Collectively, participants lost nearly 3,000 pounds.

The “Belly Acres” team from the Greensburg campus was the only team to achieve 100 percent of its weight management goal. In addition, 82 participants, some on teams and some who competed as individuals, met 100 percent of their personal weight goals.

“This year’s weight race was successful for all who participated, and we’re looking forward to identifying additional wellness activities throughout the year,” said John Kozar, director of Benefits.

Each member of the top 10 teams on the Pittsburgh campus will be awarded prizes: $75 Giant Eagle gift certificates for the top three teams; $50 certificates for teams four-six; $25 for teams seven-nine, and $10 certificates for the campus’s 10th-place team. The same formula will be applied in awarding certificates to the top 10 individuals on the Pittsburgh campus.

Members of the top four teams and the top four individuals at the Bradford, Greensburg and Johnstown campuses will receive $75, $50, $25 and $10 gift certificates, respectively. The top three teams and two individuals at Titusville will receive awards in the same descending order as the other regionals. Members of the top team and the top individual at the Mechanicsburg site will be awarded $75 gift certificates each.

This year’s weight race included a “food raiser” whereby participants solicited supporters who pledged to donate non-perishable food items to the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank for each pound lost by the participant.

Steve Zupcic, Volunteer Pool coordinator, said that Pitt’s food drive, held each April, benefited from the weight race partnership. “We had a significant increase in food donations over last year,” due in part to weight race contributors, Zupcic said. “I know of more than one person who was able to donate several cases of food as a result of being in the weight race.”

Weight race participants will continue to receive monthly weight management reminders and tips, race officials said.

—Peter Hart