HAWC competition motivates Airmen

  • Published
  • By Sean McGuire
  • 341st Missile Wing Public Affairs summer intern
MALMSTROM AIR FORCE BASE, Mont. --  Of the 113 registrants, two winners emerged from the Health and Wellness Center's recent fitness competition.

The contest promoted the need for Air Force Global Strike Command Airmen to stay healthy. To that end, participants kept a pedometer and tried to walk 837 miles, the length of the Lewis and Clark trail in Montana, between May 18 and July 18. Anything from walking in downtown Great Falls to walking to the mailbox could be converted into points for the contest.

Staff Sgt. Jeremy Page, 341st Security Forces Squadron member, and Lt. Col. Aven Strand, 341st Medical Operations Squadron Personnel Reliability Program flight commander, won Biggest Loser food scales and items from the HAWC for finishing with the most steps and the highest weight loss percentage, respectively.

"All the feedback was extremely positive; everybody loved the idea," Health and Wellness Center technician Rebecca Small said. "A lot of people said that it encouraged them to park further away at the Commissary, or use the stairs rather than an elevator, and things like that."

"Programs like this that are put on by the HAWC for Malmstrom are so beneficial," Strand said. "It is programs like this that show that little steps make a big difference in a healthy life. Malmstrom continues to be healthier one step at a time."

Page won with an estimated 777 miles, and Strand led her category with a 5.7 percent weight loss. They, and everyone else who completed the challenge and showed up for a final weigh-in, received a HAWC water bottle.

But that was far from the greatest reward for Strand.

"It was more about getting into a walking routine and having more energy," she said. "The few pounds lost were a bonus; I was excited to be an inspiration to others."