A team from Student Activities – known as the Rodents of Unusual Size – took home the Golden Shoe trophy for the top finish in this year’s Workplace Walk-off Challenge. The award was presented at a celebration on April 19 organized by Human Resources at the University Center.

Kelly Mailly, Ajamu Lamumba, Linda Mendoza, Aron Casaday and Rick Dawson generated the most steps – 2,653,620 – to take the title. The trophy will be displayed in the Student Center until next year’s challenge begins.

“We really had to ramp it up and keep it up in order to win,” said Mailly, the team captain. “We had a lot of consistency and I'm proud of our team,” she said at the awards presentation.

The Rodents were one of 25 teams that participated in the fifth annual challenge, a one-month get-moving exercise competition geared to help employees make exercise a habit. The goal is for each participant to reach 10,000 steps a day, the recommended amount of daily exercise.

Combined, the 125 participants in this year’s competition generated 36,587,414 steps – equivalent to 17,423 miles – between March 14 and April 10.

Additional recognition went to Casaday for generating the most steps in the challenge; team Otter Slaughter (Dee Cockerham, Grace Cardenas Leal, Gladys Cabadas, Chrissy Lofgren and Tiffany Ward of ?Academic and Career Advising and Undergraduate Advising Center) for their overall team improvement; Leal for the best individual improvement; and the 75 participants who made the 10,000 Steps Club.

New this year was the introduction of four awards determined by employee votes. In the end, The Lost Soles (David Ham, Lupe Cabeca, Jacinto Salazar III, Terri Wheeler and David Wittrock of ?Student Activities and Leadership Development, UPD, Service Learning and KAZU) earned Best Team Name; the FA Cartel (Diego Ortiz, Angeles Fuentes, Ashlie McCallon, Adriana Pacheco and Johanna Mahoney of ?Financial Aid) won Most Creative Team Photo; the Wylde Walkers (Natalie Lockwood, Laura Tantillo, Terryn Ashley, Karen Williams and Nancy Rogers? of Human Resources) earned the L.O.L. Team Photo award; and Otter Slaughter was awarded Best Overall Team Photo.

Finding the motivation to make exercise a habit is challenging, but worth the effort.

“Do it,” Mailly said. “Even if you aren't competitive, do it because it's fun no matter what level. It's not about winning, it's about being healthy and maintaining a balance of work and working out. We only get one body, so it's important to take care of it.”

For more information, visit CSUMB.EDU/exerciseprograms.