by David Ball
Staff Writer
It wasn’t much of a surprise to see Steve Beard atop the podium at the Yates Family YMCA in Riverside on Saturday. In fact, he didn’t even wait for his team’s name to be called before he walked up to claim his prize.
Beard clutched the silver trophy for the second time in two years after his Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida team dominated the field to win the second annual YMCA First Coast Games Corporate Cup, presented by VyStar Credit Union.
“We want to come back and compete next year, for sure,” said Beard about the possibility of creating a local dynasty. “We think this is a tremendous event to bring companies throughout Jacksonville together with friendly competition.”
From July to October, teams from 16 Jacksonville companies and government agencies competed in athletic events as well as a 12-week wellness challenge aimed at reducing participants’ weight, cholesterol and body mass index.
The games were in support of Mayor John Peyton’s “Get Healthy Jacksonville Challenge,” and goals were to help participants achieve better health as well as to build relationships among businesses with the idea of decreasing health care costs for companies.
The competition wrapped up Saturday with 5K and relay runs along the Northbank Riverwalk followed by an awards ceremony. Corporate Cup winners included Blue Cross andBlue Shield (companies with more than 500 employees) and Regency Centers (companies with less than 500 employees).
YMCA Senior Vice President and games organizer Ray Purvis said the 60 percent growth in participation over last year shows a true commitment from local businesses to promote health and wellness.
“It speaks to a growing emphasis within the corporate community to have opportunities for employees to have healthy options,” said Purvis. “With healthy employees there’s less absenteeism, they are more productive and health care costs go down.”
The YMCA cites a 2001 article in the American Journal of Health Promotion showing participation in health programs saved companies $3.48 per dollar invested in medical costs and $5.82 per dollar invested in absenteeism.
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida may be saving even more, as the Jacksonville offices support a wide variety of health and athletic programs that rightly made it’s Corporate Cup team the team to beat.
“We have a YMCA at our facility at Deerwood, and our company sponsors health screenings and cholesterol screenings,” said Beard. “We also have several sports leagues. We had to have tryouts for a lot of our sports teams in this competition.”
Blue Cross took wins in more than half the events, including soccer, volleyball, obstacle course, climbing, softball, golf and dodgeball. The team finished with 1,038 points, well ahead of second-place Auld & White/RS&H with 634 points and third-place Shands of Jacksonville with 571 points.
Other notable finishes include the City of Jacksonville in fourth with 557 points, Duval County Public Schools in fifth with 556 points.
In the smaller-company division, Regency took several events including swimming, climbing and golf and finished with 672 points, ahead of Harden & Associates in second with 430 points and Clay County Health Department in third with 393 points.
But major achievements also came from individuals in the wellness challenge, where participants worked with YMCA personal trainers on fitness programs to improve health indicators such as blood pressure, cholesterol, glucose levels, and, of course, weight.
Saturday, Duval County Public Schools team member Kathy Surcey was all grins with a 200-point reduction in cholesterol, more than 20 pounds gone and 2 inches decreased from her bra size.
“For a woman, that’s a very good thing,” said Surcey. “Getting started was hard, but as you see your progress it keeps you going. The support of our YMCA trainer also really kept us motivated.”
Surcey’s teammate, Anthony Cobb, took top prize for losing 32 pounds. In the smaller-company division, Clay County Utility Authority team member Alex Ainza won for losing 27 pounds. In total, more than 500 pounds were shed by 64 participants.
Purvis said these results and successes are generating a lot of buzz in the business community, and he hopes to get 24 or more teams for next year’s First Coast Games.
“For the Y, that’s what we want,” he said. “We want to work with companies to encourage their employees to get out and be more active. It’s about how can I sustain good health and make healthier choices?”
For more information on the First Coast Games as well as photos and results from this year’s events, visit www.firstcoastymca.org.