Activ8 your Workplace, is an initiative which encourages corporate and school staff to take part in the Race Around Australia (RAA), and other initiatives from the School Sport Unit, NSW Premier's Sporting Challenge (PSC), and other department areas.
The Race Around Australia staff challenge website will open on 2 August 2022.Activ8 your Workplace champions and RAA coordinators can create accounts once they receive their verification email and / or log in. See the email sent 2.8.22. This provides information to send to your participants as well.
Please read the instructions below in the 'Getting started' show-hide section.
The Activ8 your Workplace RAA staff challenge officially started on Monday 25 July and participants are able to backdate their activity.
What is Activ8 your Workplace?
Activ8 your Workplace provides an opportunity for all DoE staff to become more active and focus on their wellbeing over an 8-week period during Term 3.
The main activity involves participation in Race Around Australia, a virtual physical activity challenge where teams of colleagues, led by workplace champions, virtually race around Australia. Other activities and webinars will also be offered to re-familiarise participants with the existing departmental support and services that are available.
The main goal of Activ8 your Workplace is to recognise the benefits that can be achieved by focusing on personal health and wellbeing and to have 'more people more active, more often'. Staff can be involved no matter where their workplace is located – whether it be at home, or in an office.
What are the benefits of being active?
There are many benefits to being active, especially in the workplace. Physically active employees have lower absentee rates, improved productivity, reduced stress and better mental health. There is also strong evidence that shows when staff are role models for physical activity and commit to good health practices, this can have a positive impact on student physical activity levels and wellbeing.
When does it start?
In 2022, all DoE staff are invited to participate in Activ8 your Workplace, taking place over 8 weeks in Term 3, from Monday 25 July to Sunday 18 September.
RAA map distance
This year the RAA staff challenge is travelling south from our starting point in Sydney continuing clockwise around the coast of Australia!
How far do you think your team can make it? The total RAA map distance is 16,000kms. If your team has 30 participants and each of them do 10 RAAkms a day you can get back to Sydney!
Are you up for the challenge?
Once a school/organisation is registered in the PSC Tracker to participate in RAA, their team information will be sent to the Race Around Australia website.
RAA coordinators/team champions will:
- Receive an email from 'welcome@racearoundaustralia.com.au' asking them to verify their email address and create a password (check your ‘Junk’ folder).
- Once verified, when RAA coordinators log into the RAA website they will have access to their team’s dashboard.
- Choose a team avatar by selecting an animal icon from the list provided or upload a relevant image. This avatar will display on the map.
- Share the team code with each of their team members taking part in RAA so they can 'join' the team. You can find this in a table on your organisation dashboard page (below the organisation statistics) or click on 'View team' and it is the 6-digit number next to your team name.
For example, Sport Unit Staff - ######.
Team members (participants):
New accounts /
- Go to the Race Around Australia website and click on the ‘Staff challenge’ then click on 'I'm a participant'
- If they don't have a RAA account they need to create a RAA account by clicking the ‘Register an account’. Once they register an email will be sent from 'welcome@racearoundaustralia.com.au' asking to verify their account (check your ‘Junk’ folder).
- Already have a RAA account simply log in with their existing log in details
- When participants log into the RAA website for the first time they are taken to a page where they ‘Join a team’ using the team code provided by their RAA coordinator.
- Once they have joined a team they will be taken to their participant dashboard and from here you can add distances and view your achievements.
RAA kms - How is activity tracked?
This can be done in three main ways.
- Distance activities - 1 km of running or walking is 1 RAA km.
- Timed activities - a general rule is that 5 minutes of moderate / vigorous activity (something that makes you huff and puff) is 1 RAA km. See our conversion chartfor a broad view on converting activities to RAA kms.
For example the 10@10's HIIT workouts which are worth 2 RAA kms. These are presented at 10am every Monday, Wednesday and Friday via this Zoom link. You also have access to all the staff 10@10 workouts. - Prescribed activities - there are a number of 'RAA workouts' that can be found in our RAA resources page that have a set RAA km value. These are designed for schools but staff are welcome to use them.
Although we are 'racing around Australia’, it is important to emphasise that it is a team challenge. Team members benefit from working together as a team to achieve a goal (travelling further around the coast of Australia) and by living the ethos of ‘more active more often’.
Team members are responsible for adding all their activity (distances).
- RAA kms can be added
- after each activity
- at the end of the day (total of the days activity)
- at the end of a few days (total of the activity).
- activity can be backdated if it is not added on the day it was performed.
RAA website map layers
Participants and RAA coordinators/team champions can choose to view different challenge map layers. The layers are designed to accommodate teams of different sizes and levels of participation in RAA.
- Team map - shows individuals in a team racing alongside each other
- Directorate map - shows schools/organisations within the same Operational Directorate racing alongside each other.
- Top 50 map - shows the Top 50 teams across the whole DoE staff challenge racing alongside each other.
At the conclusion of the race, participants and RAA Coordinators/ Team champions must ensure all RAA kms and team information (names) have been entered and is correct.
End-of-challenge certificates
The data entered in the RAA website will appear exactly as is on the end-of-challenge (EoC) printed RAA certificates if these are opted in for at the conclusion of the race. These EoC certificates are individualised with:
- team and team member name
- team and team member total RAA kms achieved.
Activ8 your Workplace, we are calling for workplace champions to lead challenge initiatives in their workplace. This may include being a Team Manager for the Race Around Australia. Please contact psc@det.nsw.edu.au to lead a team for 2023.
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Last updated: 1 August 2022