The Walk & Ride Challenge
1. The Walk & Ride Challenge will run from September 9 – September 27, 2024, in the Bethesda, Friendship Heights, Greater Shady Grove, North Bethesda, Silver Spring and White Oak Transportation Management Districts (TMDs).
2. Participants should log steps that have been taken Monday through Friday of each week (all steps count from the time you wake up to the time you go to bed, as long as they are walking steps. See Rules #7 and #8 for more information about eligible steps). We are not supplying t-shirts or pedometers this year and this year's cost of registration is ZERO. That's correct, Walk & Ride 2024 is free!
NOTE 1: We are not supplying pedometers this year. We have a small supply of pedometers for those who really need one. Participants should use their smartphones or fitness trackers to record their steps. Please click here to visit this site to learn how to track your steps with your smartphone. Participants will have until 5:00 pm, Monday to log their steps from the previous week.
3. All team members must be employed by a company or organization located in their Transportation Management District and work at, or remotely for, a company worksite in their Transportation Management District.
4. Teams consist of a minimum of three (3) and maximum of five (5) members. (Teams may sign-up with fewer than three members, but will not be eligible for the first, second or third-place prizes if they have fewer than three members.)
5. There is no cost to register a team in 2024. Registration will close September 6 at 5:00PM EDT. Please don't wait until the last minute to create and register your team(s)! Once a team is created, each team member will have until 5:00PM EDT, Monday, October 16 to create his or her Walk & Ride login account. These deadlines are firm.
Please do not use special characters (! @ # $ % & ? = +, etc) when creating Team Name in the registration process. Team names with special characters will not display properly on the Standings pages.
6. Teams may consist of individuals from a single company or you can join up with friends from other workplaces, but all team members must work in the same Transportation Management District.
7. This Challenge tracks walking ONLY. Do NOT track or report steps or activities from biking, rollerblading, running, aerobic classes, and other forms of exercise. Those activities are NOT to be counted toward your total step count.
8. The intention of the Walk & Ride Challenge is to encourage people to walk (if you've returned to the office or other worksite) to and from work and transit, as well as to meetings, lunch and for errands and to break up the routine if you are working remotely. Please track and report these steps (do include steps taken around the office, or other worksite, on errands or at home during the course of the workday), and do not include steps or step estimates from exercise activities -- NO steps from aerobics classes, running, rollerblading, cycling, horseback riding, swimming, or yoga. (Some of these activities don't produce many steps, but you get the point!) Not sure of your workplace’s transportation management district? Use this mapping tool, https://gis.montgomerycountymd.gov/tmd/ or visit your District below for its map:
Bethesda
Friendship Heights
Greater Shady Grove
North Bethesda
Silver Spring
White Oak
9. The winning teams will be determined by averaging the total number of steps taken by the team.
10. Each week, participants who walk more than 10,000 steps will be entered into a random drawing to win gift cards. There will be other opportunities to win throughout the Challenge.
11. The prizes to be awarded at the conclusion of the three-week Challenge will be:
1st Place - $50 gift card for each team member
2nd Place - $35 gift card for each team member
3rd Place - $25 gift card for each team member
NOTE: Montgomery County Government (MCG) employees are NOT eligible for cash prizes. Individual prize drawings will be held each week among MCG employees. "Grand prizes" consisting of special promotional items will be provided to the top three MCG employee teams logging the most steps at the conclusion of the Challenge. Winning teams and participants may also be recognized in articles in Department newsletters and in other ways.
12. The winning teams will be announced by November 15, 2023. Prizes are subject to change without notice, but will be comparable in value.
13. Winners agree to allow Montgomery County Commuter Services to use their photograph(s) to promote alternative forms of transportation and future events.
14. By participating in the Walk & Ride Challenge, participants assume any and all risks associated with their participation. Participation in the Challenge means that they agree that should they be injured while participating, they will not hold Montgomery County Government or its contractors, Bethesda Urban Partnership, Inc./Bethesda Transportation Solutions/Bethesda TMD and/or the Transportation Action Partnership, Inc./North Bethesda Transportation Center/ North Bethesda TMD liable for injuries to their own or other person(s) or property.
Participants are encouraged to follow all traffic and pedestrian laws and regulations. Please visit Lookout - Montgomery County Department of Transportation to learn more about walking safely.
15. Have fun!