Olympic-themed Big Pledge is back – and you can join Team Melksham!

Wiltshire’s Big Pledge is back, and this year’s Olympic themed-challenge will see people take a virtual journey to Rio.

‘The Big Pledge – Road to Rio’ will run for eight weeks from Saturday 4th June until Friday 29th July and it challenges participants to complete 20 stages and take a virtual journey around the world, including taking stops at previous Olympic host cities.

The journey starts in ‘London’ and finishes at this year’s Olympic host city, ‘Rio de Janeiro’. People can now register to take part.

People can sign up to the challenges as individuals or as a team, and this year they are: • Road to Rio (Teams only) • Running Challenge (Individuals only) • Cycling Challenge (Individuals only) •   Swimming Challenge  (Individuals only) • Walking Challenge (Individuals only) • Junior Sports Challenge (Individuals only) •  Ultimate Sports Challenge (Individuals/team).

Melksham Town Council have decided to create a team in the Road to Rio Challenge so anyone who would like to join in the team can select ‘Team Melksham’ to join. 

This will mean that everyone’s miles across Melksham will all contribute to the Team Melksham score, which is hoped to be higher than our local counterparts such as Trowbridge and Chippenham.

This is the third year of Wiltshire’s Big Pledge and, as part of the council’s Legacy for Wiltshire programme, it aims to improve the health and wellbeing of Wiltshire’s communities.

The Wiltshire Council campaign launched on 28th April at Springfield Community Campus in Corsham, and saw the council’s community engagement managers starting the challenge themselves.

They collectively travelled 150 miles, the equivalent distance from County Hall in Trowbridge to the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London, by running, walking, cycling, rowing and swimming using the facilities at the health and wellbeing centre.

Wiltshire Council corporate director, Maggie Rae said, “We couldn’t resist adding an Olympic twist to this year’s Big Pledge and it promises to be a fun challenge, which will certainly have a positive impact on the health and wellbeing of those taking part.

“I hope the Olympic theme will inspire many people to get involved in activities and have fun doing so. I wish everyone good luck on their virtual trip to Rio!”

Wiltshire Council cabinet member with responsibility for sport, Jonathon Seed said, “The legacy of 2012 certainly lives on strongly in Wiltshire and this year’s Big Pledge will get everyone in the Olympic spirit and be lots of fun for everyone involved.

“We want Wiltshire to be full of happy, healthy communities and campaigns such as this help encourage people to put on their trainers and get more active. Good luck to everyone taking part.”

Local canoeist Hannah Brown, who was at the launch and hopes to be part of the Rio Olympics said, “I am honoured to be supporting the Big Pledge Road to Rio.

“As part of Team GB I know it’s great to have the support of your teammates so why not get your workplace, school or community group to sign up as a team. This is a great way to get active, have fun and join in the exciting build up to the Games. So what are you waiting for? Make your pledge today and join the road to Rio!”

For more information and to sign up people should visit www.wiltshire.gov.uk/bigpledge