Participants were invited to cover as much distance during exercise as they can before October 24, as Saudi Arabia celebrates the UN and its Sustainable Development Goals
The Saudi Sports for All Federation is wrapping up a special fitness challenge on its app to mark the 76th anniversary of the formation of the United Nations, encouraging people to get active in honor of UN Day.
Taking place on October 24, UN Day commemorates the signing of the UN Charter in 1945, with Saudi Arabia focusing its celebrations this year on a new health and wellness campaign, #Active4SDGs – in support of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
The SFA will be joined by Leejam, the Saudi Gymnastics Federation, and the Saudi Olympic Committee for the campaign, with the SFA’s UN Day-inspired challenge calling on people to cover as much distance during exercise as they can before October 24.
Whether running, walking, cycling, swimming, or any other fitness activity, participants can choose how to cover the distance – as long as it can be recorded by a fitness tracker. Everybody who completes the challenge will stand a chance of winning a prize, with the SFA awarding three participants a free three-month membership to any Fitness Time gym in Saudi Arabia.
While health and well-being are represented within a number of the UN’s SDGs, the challenge and the Kingdom’s wider UN Day efforts are centered on Sustainable Development Goal 3 in particular: ‘Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.
As part of the campaign, people are invited to share on social media how SDG 3 has impacted their lives and raise awareness for the goal and its potential to do good.
The UN Day celebrations build on the SFAs already strong relationship with the international organization. As well as signing a collaborative agreement that helps the Federation align its strategy with the UN’s global action plan of physical activity, the SFA joined the World Health Organization (a UN agency) for its first virtual Walk the Talk initiative in 2020.
The SFA has also supported the UN’s SDGs through the Global Goals World Cup tournament. The Saudi Greens all-women team took second place in 2019 before the Kingdom hosted the first-ever GGWCUP Saudi Arabia event earlier this year.
