Piling up points for Participaction

Roger Varley, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

A lot of points were racked up on the weekend in Uxbridge's quest to win the national ParticipACTION Community Challenge, helped by the Uxbridge scout group and the soccer club.

Cosmos file photo

For six hours on Saturday, the Scouts ran an outdoor event on Quaker Common called Outdoor Discovery Day to show youngsters how to tie knots, roast marshmallows, the importance of a First Aid kit and other activities. Also on hand were staff from Parks Canada, the Uxbridge climate action council, the Ignited Learning Centre, Chrismar Mapping and Uxbridge Secondary School outdoor education. Colleen Baskin, who manned a Township information table with her son, Graham, said the event would qualify for points in the ParticipACTION Challenge. She said Uxbridge appears to be doing well, ranking 38th nationwide so far.

The Community Challenge is an annual initiative that encourages Canadians to get active in a friendly competition to crown Canada’s Most Active Community. Communities across the country are tracking their physical activity levels throughout the month of June and the most active community will win a grand prize of $100,000 to invest in local physical activity and sport programs. All outdoor activity counts for points and groups and events can register to earn points.

Attendance at the Scout event was not great: with an hour to go, Parks Canada, which had been keeping track of visitors, said only about 50 people had shown up. One reason for that - there was a big soccer day at the Fields of Uxbridge.

The North Durham United Soccer Club held its opening day festival, with hundreds of children playing from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.

For details on how to register for the Challenge and how to record your activity, visit the Township website or visit https://www.participaction.com/programs/community-challenge/