ParticipACTION's Community Better Challenge may be a national event, but Sport Aurora and Activate Aurora have stepped it up locally up to prove that an engaged and co-ordinated community effort will be what it takes to earn this prestigious title.

“We want everybody in Aurora to be aware of this challenge and join in,” said Activate Aurora Chair Ron Weese during a gathering of sport, recreation and physical activity participants at the Aurora Family Leisure Complex. “Our job here is to get people excited, and show how easy it is to download and use the free ParticipACTION app during the ‘count weeks' from May 31 to June 16.”

Activate Aurora has joined hundreds of communities across Canada, who are all vying for the same honour. The Challenge uses a point system for each community (defined by postal code and adjusted by population size) that includes the number of people who download the app, total minutes of activity entered on the app, and the additional activity logged by Activate Aurora partners.

Ten Aurora schools from both school boards, along with several private schools will be recording their students' activities. Sport organizations have also joined in. Likewise, fitness centres such as Club Aurora, Goodlife, Aurora Athletic Club and LA Fitness will be adding activity minutes from their memberships.

“It is a big task to include everyone,” said student volunteer Christian Carnovale, who is in charge of events and participant recruitment. “But we are getting there.”

“We believe that regardless of whether or not we win, the Challenge is a great community-builder around an important and valuable message – increasing healthy physical activity,” added Weese. “But wouldn't it be great to be able to say you live in a community that has been recognized, nationally, as ‘Canada's Most Active' by a renowned agency like ParticipACTION?”

There is still time join the Community Better Challenge. All it takes is a minute to download the free app from the App Store, Google Play or www.participaction.com. And for sport and recreation organizations, as well as local businesses, contact Ron Weese at Activate Aurora.