On Friday, June 29, employees of the City of Oakdale will begin to compete in a 30-day battle for fitness.

The event will last until July 28 and is monitored by a point system for various activities. Patrick Mondragon, Human Resources Manager for the City of Oakdale, reported that the challenge “is made up of four main categories: Exercise, Nutrition, Lifestyle, and Education.”

For each category, there are several items that can earn someone a point.

“In the Exercise category (the largest), if an employee walks one mile, they earn one point,” Mondragon explained. “But then we also have things like Heavy Housework, which gives one point for every 30 minutes.”

The city plans to put those who participate into teams, spreading across all four departments – Administration, Finance, Police, and Public Service. While the teams are mainly put together “for camaraderie purposes,” the hope is that they’ll grow to support one another, maybe plan a team walk or healthy lunch together, or even issue a challenge amongst themselves to see who can get the highest points despite this being an “individual challenge,” noted Mondragon.

The points will be turned in weekly, and at the end there will be several prizes given out for highest amount of points among a team and in the individual category, as well as prizes for the most weight and body fat lost. They’re even looking to recognize winners at a future Oakdale City Council meeting, though this is still to be determined.

Overall the main idea behind the Fitness Challenge, Mondragon said, “is to encourage City of Oakdale employees to create and maintain a healthy lifestyle.”