Sporty superstars at a Moray day centre are celebrating after smashing a month-long fitness challenge.
Clients and staff from Health & Social Care Moray’s Artiquins support service in Elgin set themselves the ambitious goal of clocking up 500 hours of activity during September to give their health and wellbeing a boost.
They sought sponsorship from generous family and friends for the challenge which was also an opportunity to say “thank you” and give something back to two local charities which have been working closely with Artiquins over the past two years.
Throughout September, special guests have been welcomed into the centre to lead clients in a range of sporting and fitness sessions. Staff also set up treadmills, exercise bikes and mini trampolines which clients were encouraged to use. Relatives and visitors to the service, including drivers from the council’s public transport unit (PTU), also helped out by walking and cycling on the machines, with everyone’s time spent exercising logged and added to the challenge totaliser.
Gemma Pirie, day centre officer, explained: “We all know that increasing our levels of activity is an important way of supporting our physical and mental health but sometimes we lack the motivation to do more.
“The fitness challenge month has been a fantastic opportunity to introduce our clients to some fun activities they might not have tried before and we’re hoping they find ways to stay active now the fitness challenge is over.”
Heading in to the final week of the challenge with only 80 hours to complete, Artiquins crossed the 500 hours finish line with ease. All the money raised in sponsorship is going to Moray Food Plus and Outfit Moray.
Gemma added: “Moray Food Plus has been running cooking sessions for us at the Bosie family centre in Elgin, helping clients develop their life skills and gain confidence in the kitchen, while Outfit Moray has supported us with bikeability sessions at Cooper Park in the summer and Moray Sports Centre over winter, giving us the chance to try out adapted cycles.”
Artiquins is grateful to all partners who have supported the challenge, including Tracey Gourlay, community champion at the Tesco store in Elgin, who donated a hamper of fruit which the clients turned into smoothies using power generated by pedalling the Outfit Moray smoothie bike. Leading fitness sessions were: Sandra Grigor and Dionne Heffernan from Moray Leisure Centre; lecturer Laura Peden and sport and fitness students from UHI Moray; David Mackenzie, fitness instructor; Louise Mair, fitness boxing instructor; Ann Griffin from Yoga with Ann; Mark Russell from Focus Martial Arts; and Ann Hay from Health & Social Care Moray’s Community Wellbeing Development Team.
The total amount raised will be announced once all the sponsorship money has been collected.
