Welcome to the third annual 2023 AWCH Spring Challenge:
EVERY
KILOMETER COUNTS, European Edition
Here is all the information y
ou need to participate in this fun group fitness experience!
Who
: AWCH members, friends, and family anywhere in the world
What:
Together with a team, you will embark on a virtual fitness relay race of ab
out 10,000
kilometers. We begin in Dublin and visit 20 national parks
across Europe, the UK, and
Ukraine before returning to Hamburg. Will y
our team cross the virtual finish line first? Every
kilometer of activ
ity you record moves your team closer to the prize!
When: From M
ay 1 to June 30. The awards ceremony will be held live on July 2 at the AWC
H
Independence Day party.
The Grand Prize: The winning team
will receive a 75€ donation to a charity of their choice!
Entry
Fee for Members: Participation is FREE for all AWCH members
Entry Fee
for Guests: 10€ for adults; 7€ for children (up to age 18)
Pay your e
ntry fee at Payhip.com/AWCHbooks.
G
uests are warmly invited to become AWCH members, and then your
S
pring Challenge registration is FREE! Apply at awchamburg.org.
J
oin the Race: Every participant must create an account at My Virtual Missio
n. You do not need to RSVP on the website AND you can sign up via the inclu
ded link TODAY! Team assignments and mission launch is on May 1!
Pleas
e click HERE to join
the AWCH Spring Challenge. You need to register for an account or sign in
if
you’ve participated in the past. You can also download the MyVirtua
lMission app.
My Virtual Mission is GDPR compliant, and we alway
s protect your personal information.
The Teams: Only two teams t
his year – after two feminist women from Hamburg. You will be
sorted i
nto a team on May 1. When you sign up and it asks which team you are on, ch
oose
“I’m not sure.” We’ll let you know soon!
Log Your Kilo
meters: Record your activity by syncing your phone or sports tracker to you
r
My Virtual Mission account. You may also enter your exercise manuall
y. For activities that
aren’t distance-based (such as spring cleaning,
yoga, tennis, or gardening), you can use this
conversion chart.
Connect with your Team: When you sign up online, you will be asked if you w
ant to be
added to your team’s WhatsApp group. This is totally optiona
l, and the groups will be
different than previous years. You can cheer
each other on and arrange activities together.
Reaching Milesto
nes: When your team arrives at one of the national park milestones, you
will receive an email with some fun facts about the park written especial
ly for us by a
participant of this event. Participants who submit blur
bs will earn a bonus of 75 kilometers!
Contact
Here are the Rules:
1) The administrator, Hannah B., will assign each AWCH member to tw
o groups evenly
and randomly, with an eye to proximity of members. The
wild card remains that
friends and family members may be recruited to
join your team. Please promptly let
me know if you would like to swit
ch teams.
2) If you choose to connect your device to the MyVirtu
alMission app, please be sure to
only use ONE CONNECTION. (You are not
required to use a tracking device, and
manual entries alone are allow
ed.)
3) There will be friendly WhatsApp groups for each team. Ev
eryone is welcome – just
let us know on the MyVirtualMission site if w
e should add you. You may add your
friends and family if you choose.
4) Kilometers must be recorded by every Sunday at midnight for th
e previous week.
People may join at any time, however they may only ‘b
ack’ record miles to the
beginning of the week they joined. The week s
tarts on Monday and ends on Sunday.
5) Conversion Chart: Please
use this document to accurately log activities that aren’t
based on di
stance or to convert your miles to kilometers. Although there has been
some disagreement about this conversion chart in the past, it is our only
way to keep
things consistent. www.myvirtualmission.com/downloads/guid
es/mvm/MVM-
Activity-Conversion-Chart-2021-01.pdf
Frequentl
y Asked Questions:
1) How do I explain this to someone who has n
ever participated in a virtual fitness
challenge? Two teams filled wit
h AWCH members and people they love will keep
track of their exercise,
walking, biking, cleaning, gardening, etc. As team members
exercise a
nd move, they will enter their effort/distance into the app manually or
have a sports watch or phone sync with it automatically. All that effort
gets
translated into kilometers/miles, and the virtual token for each
of the teams moves
along our virtual route, visiting 20 national parks
around Europe. 10,000 km later, the
winning team gets to celebrate at
Independence Day event on July 2 with a 75€
donation made in their ho
nor!
2) Do you monitor for cheating? No way! But I do make sure
that the limitations of the
product are addressed. Each tracking devic
e (sports watch, phone, etc.) has its own
coding, which makes it impos
sible for the platform to code for every exception. If
someone notices
duplications, I will attempt to research the issue and make the
neces
sary adjustments.
3) Have the teams been fair? Always! Previousl
y, we divided the entire club into four
geographical teams, but some a
reas ended up with more people participating than
others. This year, w
e will try to divide the participants into equal teams of AWCH
member
participants, with an eye toward proximity of your team members.
4) Why do you let friends and family participate? This annual event origin
ally started
with two goals in mind: 1) Bring everyone back together a
fter Covid, when being
together outside was safe, and 2) To introduce
potential members to the club.
*The Spring Challenge is a great way to
invite new members! Think of the free
registration as a 22% discount
coupon if they join the club instead of paying through
PayHip.
5) How can I help? Thanks for asking! Encourage people to sign up – mem
bers and non-
members. Volunteer to write a milestone. Have fun. Call
someone on your team that
you don’t know and go for a walk or bike rid
e together. Let me know immediately if
something is bothering you. I m
ay not be able to remedy it this year, but I can try
again next year.<
br />
6) If I have an issue with anything, who should I contact? For 2
023: Hannah Bergland,
+49-171-833-3351 or
Many thanks to Carol H., who was a
co-admin for the last two years! Being an admin
entails hours of work
setting up the course, setting up milestones, typing up rules,
gettin
g the event publicized, on-boarding folks, troubleshooting, and writing and
finding photos for each of the milestones you receive. She was unstop
pable!
Welcome to the third annual 2023 AWCH Sp
ring Challenge:
EVERY KILOMETER COUNTS, European Edition
He
re is all the information you need to participate in this fun group fitness
experience!
Who: AWCH members, friends, and family anywhere in
the world
What: Together with a team, you will embark on a virtu
al fitness relay race of about 10,000
kilometers. We begin in Dublin a
nd visit 20 national parks across Europe, the UK, and
Ukraine before r
eturning to Hamburg. Will your team cross the virtual finish line first? Ev
ery
kilometer of activity you record moves your team closer to the pri
ze!
When: From May 1 to June 30. The awards ceremony will be hel
d live on July 2 at the AWCH
Independence Day party.
The Gr
and Prize: The winning team will receive a 75€ donation to a charity of the
ir choice!
Entry Fee for Members: Participation is FREE for all
AWCH members
Entry Fee for Guests: 10€ for adults; 7€ for children (up
to age 18)
Pay your entry fee at Payhip.com/AWCHbooks.
Guests are warmly invi
ted to become AWCH members, and then your
Spring Challenge regis
tration is FREE! Apply at awchamburg.org.
Join the Race: Every p
articipant must create an account at My Virtual Mission. You do not need to
RSVP on the website AND you can sign up via the included link TODAY! Team
assignments and mission launch is on May 1!
Please click HERE to join the AWCH Spring Chal
lenge. You need to register for an account or sign in if
you’ve partic
ipated in the past. You can also download the MyVirtualMission app.
My Virtual Mission is GDPR compliant, and we always protect your person
al information.
The Teams: Only two teams this year – after two
feminist women from Hamburg. You will be
sorted into a team on May 1.
When you sign up and it asks which team you are on, choose
“I’m not su
re.” We’ll let you know soon!
Log Your Kilometers: Record your a
ctivity by syncing your phone or sports tracker to your
My Virtual Mis
sion account. You may also enter your exercise manually. For activities tha
t
aren’t distance-based (such as spring cleaning, yoga, tennis, or gar
dening), you can use this
conversion chart.
Connect with your Tea
m: When you sign up online, you will be asked if you want to be
added
to your team’s WhatsApp group. This is totally optional, and the groups wil
l be
different than previous years. You can cheer each other on and ar
range activities together.
Reaching Milestones: When your team a
rrives at one of the national park milestones, you
will receive an ema
il with some fun facts about the park written especially for us by a
p
articipant of this event. Participants who submit blurbs will earn a bonus
of 75 kilometers!
Contact
Here are the Rules:
1) The admini
strator, Hannah B., will assign each AWCH member to two groups evenly
and randomly, with an eye to proximity of members. The wild card remains th
at
friends and family members may be recruited to join your team. Plea
se promptly let
me know if you would like to switch teams.
2) If you choose to connect your device to the MyVirtualMission app, please
be sure to
only use ONE CONNECTION. (You are not required to use a tr
acking device, and
manual entries alone are allowed.)
3) Th
ere will be friendly WhatsApp groups for each team. Everyone is welcome – j
ust
let us know on the MyVirtualMission site if we should add you. You
may add your
friends and family if you choose.
4) Kilomete
rs must be recorded by every Sunday at midnight for the previous week.
People may join at any time, however they may only ‘back’ record miles to
the
beginning of the week they joined. The week starts on Monday and e
nds on Sunday.
5) Conversion Chart: Please use this document to
accurately log activities that aren’t
based on distance or to convert
your miles to kilometers. Although there has been
some disagreement ab
out this conversion chart in the past, it is our only way to keep
thin
gs consistent. www.myvirtualmission.com/downloads/guides/mvm/MVM-
Acti
vity-Conversion-Chart-2021-01.pdf
Frequently Asked Questions:
1) How do I explain this to someone who has never participated in
a virtual fitness
challenge? Two teams filled with AWCH members and pe
ople they love will keep
track of their exercise, walking, biking, cle
aning, gardening, etc. As team members
exercise and move, they will en
ter their effort/distance into the app manually or
have a sports watch
or phone sync with it automatically. All that effort gets
translated
into kilometers/miles, and the virtual token for each of the teams moves
along our virtual route, visiting 20 national parks around Europe. 10,00
0 km later, the
winning team gets to celebrate at Independence Day eve
nt on July 2 with a 75€
donation made in their honor!
2) Do
you monitor for cheating? No way! But I do make sure that the limitations
of the
product are addressed. Each tracking device (sports watch, phon
e, etc.) has its own
coding, which makes it impossible for the platfor
m to code for every exception. If
someone notices duplications, I will
attempt to research the issue and make the
necessary adjustments.
3) Have the teams been fair? Always! Previously, we divided the ent
ire club into four
geographical teams, but some areas ended up with mo
re people participating than
others. This year, we will try to divide
the participants into equal teams of AWCH
member participants, with an
eye toward proximity of your team members.
4) Why do you let fr
iends and family participate? This annual event originally started
wit
h two goals in mind: 1) Bring everyone back together after Covid, when bein
g
together outside was safe, and 2) To introduce potential members to
the club.
*The Spring Challenge is a great way to invite new members!
Think of the free
registration as a 22% discount coupon if they join t
he club instead of paying through
PayHip.
5) How can I help
? Thanks for asking! Encourage people to sign up – members and non-
me
mbers. Volunteer to write a milestone. Have fun. Call someone on your team
that
you don’t know and go for a walk or bike ride together. Let me kn
ow immediately if
something is bothering you. I may not be able to rem
edy it this year, but I can try
again next year.
6) If I ha
ve an issue with anything, who should I contact? For 2023: Hannah Bergland,
+49-171-833-3351 or
Many thanks to Carol H., who was a co-admin for the las
t two years! Being an admin
entails hours of work setting up the cours
e, setting up milestones, typing up rules,
getting the event publicize
d, on-boarding folks, troubleshooting, and writing and
finding photos
for each of the milestones you receive. She was unstoppable!