The Take the Stairs Challenge was just the extra incentive Alida De Marco needed to forego the elevator.

The Leddy Library’s circulation coordinator, she won a prize draw for participants in the wellness project, which saw UWindsor employees add more physical activity to their workdays.

“We sit a lot. It’s just nice to be active,” De Marco says. “I do take the stairs, but the competition gave me a little encouragement to be more consistent about it.”

The Department of Human Resources sponsored the challenge, a project of the Workplace Wellness Committee. Teams and individuals tracked their stair-climbing, claiming a total of almost 57,000 flights of stairs during the contest period, November 9 to December 4.

Taking the stairs has a number of health benefits, says organizer Marcela Ciampa, manager of employee engagement and development.

“It can help you maintain a healthy body weight, develop a higher aerobic capacity, and build strong bones, muscles and joints,” she says.

The prize draw offered UWindsor gift cards. De Marco won in the individual category; the team prize went to the Faculty of Education entry—Tania Lepera, Abby Nakhaie, Glenn Rideout, Carol Kong-Dai and Pierre Thibodeau.

Find more information, including the top three climbing teams and individuals, on the challenge website.