The results are in, and Team Vienna is the victor in the second annual Mayors’ Fitness Challenge! The friendly competition between the Town of Vienna and Falls Church and Fairfax cities encourages residents to get moving and log their minutes of exercise in the name of community spirit and team pride. Vienna’s 132 participants, ranging in age from 4 to 91, tallied a collective 238,437 exercise minutes (3,973.95 hours) from March 19-May 7, 2022. That was enough to put Team Vienna in the winner’s circle, followed by Falls Church and Fairfax in second and third place respectively.
“Our community always rallies to a cause, and the Mayors’ Fitness Challenge was a great way to get the whole family involved to help achieve a collective goal and get some exercise at the same time,” Vienna Mayor Linda Colbert said. “I’m so proud of the way our community embraced this healthy, friendly competition. Finishing first wasn’t easy as both Falls Church and Fairfax also finished strong and were very worthy competitors!”
The Mayors’ Fitness Challenge started in 2021 with a collaboration between the three communities to encourage people to get outside after being cooped up at home for more than a year for pandemic-related reasons. To motivate people, the mayors of each community rallied residents to choose activities they enjoy. This year’s participants recorded activities such as walking, pickleball, weightlifting, gardening and basketball among others.
“The best thing about this competition is that everyone who participates wins,” Colbert said. “Participants benefit from the exercise, and it brings communities together. There’s no downside to that.”
The competition trophy will be passed from last year’s winner, the City of Falls Church, to the Town of Vienna where it will remain for one year until next year’s competition. That’s when Team Vienna will vie for a repeat victory in its bid to defend the title of most-fit community.
