Gathered together by Christopher Tam, members and family of the Table Tennis Interest Group of the HKU Alumni Association of Ontario formed a team of 10 to participate in the HKU Walking Challenge organised by the Centre for Sports and Exercise & VP Global Office of HKU. The Challenge took place during the month of May 2018 with the aim of promoting fitness and healthy body and healthy mind for students, staff and alumni. Within a short time, we came out with a team name: Toronto Walkers, and a Google Spreadsheet was set up to record the steps made by each team member. With each other’s support and encouragement, we all continued to push ourselves to the limit in order to take more steps and achieve better health for ourselves. More importantly, we established a habit of walking and exercising on daily basis. At the end of the Challenge, our team accumulated a total of 3,719,528 steps, ranked 14 out of 150 teams in the Highest Total Steps, and ranked 33 in the Highest Average Steps: A very impressive result.
Our members would like to share their stories with you below:
I enjoy being challenged. I also love to exercise. As a healthcare professional, I know first-hand that it is difficult to motivate my patients to exercise and improve their personal health. When I saw the HKU walking challenge, I jumped at the opportunity to join so that I could literally “walk the talk.” I approached a few of our alumni to take up the challenge. Luckily, more showed up voluntarily and the group was formed within 24 hours. I was hoping to be a 300k member and also challenged my friends to push themselves to become a 300k member. Now, most of us are proud members of this 300k club and one even challenged the rest of us to take this to another level – to walk until our group accumulates enough steps to walk around the world! I think we are ready.
– Christopher Tam, M.B.B.S 1984
The walking challenge has been a game changer to do something for my sedentary life style after work which is sitting down to watch TV after a day of sitting and watching the screen at work. At 72, I have to push myself to move and walk more. So going out to play golf on the weekend or after work did the trick. I am the lowest scoring member, yet I am not unhappy and vow to keep this up even after June 1.
– Lilian Ma Yan Yan, BSc 1967
Being a retiree, I have been leading a healthy life style for many years. Birding at parks, playing table tennis and practising Tai Chi are almost my day to day activities. Joining the Walking Challenge programme has enabled me to visualize the level of physical activities which I achieve when compared to my teammates. The team has motivated me to walk more and exercise more when I noticed my steps were behind the team average. A small increment in steps is a great achievement in keeping me in good shape! Although the Walking Challenge has come to an end, the good practice will keep going on for me! 正是: 腳下衆小歩, 健康一大歩!
-HK Pong , BSc (Eng) 1980, MSc (Eng) 1985
四月的某一天,收到今年的驗身報告,還是老樣子,應高的不高,應低的不低,醫生說:小心。
回到家裏,太太Wendy說收到HKU Walking Challenge 的電郵,建議我們一起參加,太太說:恆心。
五月的第一天,步行月的第一步,湊巧在南太平洋一個小島上開展,島名復活節島,那天我們各行了約二萬步,Wendy說:若能持之以恆,您可以復活了。
五月廿九日,我們Toronto Walkers大聚會,感受到大家的興奮和健康的笑聲,丹田之氣充沛十足,持續步行,果然是靈丹妙藥。
想起了當年金句,冥冥中自有靈光一刹,由此普渡眾生。感謝HKU Walking Challenge, 您就是這道靈光,指引我們步出彩虹!感謝Toronto Walkers全體隊員,沒有大家的互相鼓勵,我這個月沒可能行了三十多萬步, Wendy也不可能行了四十萬步。與您們同行,是我們的幸運!天長地久有時盡,持續步行無了期,Toronto Walkers共勉之!
– TC Kwan,BSc (Eng) 1981 & Wendy Lam, BSocSc 1982
There are so many quotes about the benefit of walking such as “walking is the most ancient exercise and still the best modern exercise”, “An early-morning walk is a blessing for the whole day”, “Thoughts come clearly while one walks” and so on. However, not until you really are doing it, you cannot actually enjoy the benefits. Many thanks to the HKU Alumni Walking Challenges initiative which triggers so many of us to get into walking. Very likely, our “Toronto Walkers” walking team including our immediate family will continue on the walking exercise after the challenge. Let’s put in our effort to live a healthy life. For me, it is definitely a good start.
– Jimmy Tang, BSc 1982
I was the last one who joined this walker group. Being an active sports player, I think it will be easy to reach 300K in a month. But after two weeks, I have the least number of steps within the group and far below the average of 10k per day. My family then starts suggesting me to walk to nearby grocery store, library and restaurant together instead of driving as we used to. I find it very enjoyable to walk leisurely with my family members in such a nice weather. I wish everyone can enjoy a leisure walk with your loved one every day.
– Steve Fung, B.Sc 1982
四月初剛剛退下工作線,正值組隊步行,想不到一向不愛運動的愛妻也一口應承参加。當知道目標是每日要行一萬步,就開始有壓力好擔心。
五月開始,每日想盡辦法為了達標: 行山,觀鳥,逛商場,走 treadmill, 附近的公園都給我倆走遍。
有時三更半夜,就到零晨時,太太知道尚未夠數,立即從電腦前彈起,在客廳氹氹轉,氹氹轉,臨尾衝刺。當到達一萬步就停止,又再坐回到電腦前。
五月將盡,太太發覺數年來長期奮鬥的目標,居然可以一個月內達到(減磅三磅),實在太高興了。佢的終身幸福,終於實現了。真係要多謝HKU Walking Challenge。
– Edmond Cheng,B. Soc. Sc. 1985 & Elza Lee, B. Sc. (Comp. Studies) 1985
I got a fitness tracker more than a year ago but I failed to meet the 10,000 steps per day goal from time to time. Thanks to the HKU Walking Challenge and the Toronto Walkers, I am able to become a 300K club member in 26 days! The peer pressure always works. The team spirit has motivated me to leave my office desk or my comfortable home to walk no matter how busy (and how lazy) I am. I have navigated different routes and walked through most parts of the University of Toronto campus and my neighborhood in the last 31 days. It’s a blessing to establish a healthy lifestyle with friends from the HKU family in Toronto. Let’s extend this challenge after May and aim to walk around the globe together. Three cheers to Toronto Walkers!
– Alice Chow, BFin 1998; MEcon 2001
Compiled by HK Pong
Group Photo of Toronto Walkers team
Front row from left to right: Edmond Cheng Elza Lee Lilian Ma Yan Yan Alice Chow Wendy Lam TC Kwan
Back row from left to right: Steve Fung HK Pong (Captain) Jimmy Tang Christopher Tam