The rockefeller university

This summer, 189 university employees participated in the Global Corporate Challenge (GCC), a worldwide walking program in which participants are issued pedometers and record their daily step totals on a dedicated Web portal.

Over 16 weeks, the participants walked a total of 269,705,477 steps. That translates to 107,256 miles, or 4.3 trips around the world. They burnt 10,874,525 calories and, by choosing to walk instead of drive, ride the bus or take an elevator, they prevented 14,270 pounds of carbon from entering the atmosphere. The average daily distance walked per person: 5.94 miles.

“Although we have sponsored walking programs at Rockefeller in the past, this was the first year that we joined an outside program and got the benefits of Web-based data tracking and incentives,” says Ginny Hansen, director of benefits. “It was more fun for the participants, and GCC’s data collection allowed us to see just how much of a difference the program can make in people’s habits and in their health.”

Registration for the 2012 program will begin in late April.